The Year of Ram
by Blade of Justice
Summary: A little misunderstanding leads to a year of celebration like no other before it. For one exciting year, enjoy a series of short stories all centered all around Lowee's youngest. This... is the Year of Ram!
1. January 1: Prologue

Ram was ecstatic. She was flying around and running around and telling everyone she knew the good news. She also _may_ have rubbed it in Nepgear's face — but just a little! — when it had gotten time to tell _her_ about this awesome news that she had. How could she not be a little cocky? She had been told something amazing — no, _better_ than amazing! She didn't know what the word for that was, but whatever word there was for such a thing, this was definitely that word!

Earlier, Ram had learned that today marked the start of the _greatest holiday ever_. It was unlike any holiday she had ever heard of in all her life ever ever. She didn't know how it was celebrated or what anyone did during it, but quite frankly, she really just did not care. With what the holiday was, she just _knew_ it was the best! It was like looking at the cover of a new game and knowing that it was gonna be the best one you've ever played! It was like watching the opening to a new TV show and knowing it was gonna be so great!

Ram was so excited!

She still couldn't _believe_ she'd never heard of this amazing holiday before. How could such a magical, magnificent holiday have escaped her knowledge for so long? Had everyone been trying to hide it from her? Was that it? She would totally get it if that was why. It wasn't just the best holiday in the wild world, after all...

It was a holiday that lasted a _whole year_.

Who wouldn't love a holiday like that? Who wouldn't be jumping for joy? Have _you_ ever heard of such an incredibly holiday? Bet not!

But hold on, because it got so much better. It wasn't just a year long holiday. If it was just a year long holiday, Ram would still be happy, but that was only just the beginning of the festivities.

It was a year long holiday _about her_.

It was _her_ year.

This holiday... This _year_... It was the year of Ram.

* * *

><p>Blanc pinched the bridge of her nose as she watched Ram run down the hall for the tenth, maybe twentieth time, cheering excitedly as she past. Rom was hurriedly following after her, an array of decorations clumsily stuffed in her arms (probably by her sister), with some tumbling out of them as she went. Behind the twins was little Peashy, visiting from the other dimension. She had an armful of stuffed dolls in the shape of Ram in her arms, and was doing her best to keep hold of them while still keeping up with the twins. Plutia had been with Peashy at some point, but it seemed like she had fallen asleep somewhere about an hour ago after Ram's fifth lap around the Basilicom's enormous halls celebrating her holiday. At the end of this train came Nepgear and Uni, looking torn between amusement and exasperation.<p>

That was fine. Blanc was allllll ready to be exasperated for everybody if those two weren't willing to go all out.

She didn't know what her sister was imagining in that little head of hers, but she was sorely tempted to stop this before it got out of hand.

"So am I gonna have to be the one that has to tell her that this is the year of _the_ ram? Like... the animal?" Turning away from the hallway, Blanc looked to the other three CPUs. Their reactions had not been helping any. Neptune and Vert thought it was cute (though Neptune also thought it was funny), and while Noire seemed to share the sentiment, she seemed much more happy to know that Uni was smart enough not to make this mistake in the first place. "I'm not the moron that didn't make it clear to her in the first place."

Neptune and Vert pointedly looked in opposite directions, the former sniggering and the latter smiling sheepishly at the wall. From Neptune's side, Noire couldn't help but sigh. The brunette at the other end of the table looked like she was going to explode any minute... This probably would be a bit of a pain for Blanc if it lasted to too long, wouldn't it?

"She probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference, right?" Noire turned Blanc's attention away from the two CPUs who had inadvertently caused this catastrophe, instead trying to fight the battle with good, old fashioned logic. "No, that would feed her ego. Then it's not just the year of Ram, it's the year of _the_ Ram. She might go around talking in third person — 'The Ram wants dinner!, The Ram wants cookies!'... that kind of thing."

As soon as Noire spoke, Vert slapped a hand over her mouth to cover the "kyaaa!" that had come up at the mental image of a little Overlord Ram running around. Even Neptune gave her a look that time, but she paid them no mind.

"I guess..." Shaking her head, Blanc sunk into her seat. It was easy for them to talk about this — they didn't have to live with this potential headache. Still... Maybe she was overthinking it? "I just hope she forgets before they start officially celebrating this thing. It doesn't really start for another few months, right? Maybe I'll get her and Rom a couple new games or something so they have a way to pass the time before it gets in gear. Crazy lunar calendars..."

"Awww, come on Blanc, what's the harm? Let her have her fun." For her part, Neptune didn't see what the big deal was. She'd love to have a holiday named after her! Even if it turned out she'd totally been wrong about it, she was sure the fun she'd have leading up to it would be worth it. "It's not like she'll keep this up _all year,_ right? She's a kid, she'll get bored in a week. She might not even make it that long. You'll see."

After a moment, Blanc shrugged. She supposed Neptune was probably right. Noire too... It wasn't going to be that bad. How could it? This _was_ just _one_ little girl they were talking about here...

It wasn't like this was the prologue to a collection of short stories about Ram that was going to last an entire year or anything, right?

If they only knew. Oh, if they only knew.


	2. January 8: Role Reversal

Letting out a cry of frustration, the long haired brunette known as Ram leaned back in her seat and tossed her arms up in annoyance. She had been sitting at this desk for _hours_, painstakingly filling out page after page of paperwork in order to get things running along smoothly, but the pile seemed like it was never ending! It was almost like it had been set up this way so she would be ready to run away from Lowee and never come back just as the scene opened...!

Groaning, the young woman reached into her hair to remove the scrunchie that was keeping it tied into a ponytail — she was done being in "work mode" for the day- no, for the _year_! If she had to sign _one more thing_...!

"Ram, are you taking a break? I have something for you..."

Ram perked up right away at the sound of her sister's voice at the doorway of their office. Rom appearing at a time like this was either going to be very good or very, very bad. If Rom was here with more work, she needed to duck under her desk two minutes ago and pretend she wasn't here... But on the other hand, if Rom was here with _snacks_... Ram had to think really hard about this one, but she only had a second to decide...

Argh!

This wasn't a risk this CPU was willing to take!

Abandoning her scrunchie on the desk and any hopes she had had of straightening her hair now that she'd taken it out after doing so with it, Ram dove under her desk with speed that would make Planeptune's mascot envious and hugged her legs close. She was an expect at stealth stuff, really she was. She grinned to herself for her quick thinking and masterful evasion skills, hoping that Rom wouldn't be able to catch on or think to tilt her head downward in any way whatsoev...

"Ram... You still haven't finished this paperwork? You shouldn't be under the table... We can't start anything until you get it all done, you know that."

Busted.

Puffing her cheeks out, Ram crawled out from underneath her desk — purposely taking up significantly more time than she had taken in getting under there — unable to meet her twin's gaze as she looked around the room. Maybe she could...

"Are you trying to be a cat, Ram...?" Unfortunately, her sister giggling at her didn't make her feel particularly interested in sticking around on the floor. Her cheeks heating up in embarrassment, Ram tossed a hand through her long hair and pointedly looked at the wall. Leave it to Rom to foil her attempt at figuring out an escape route. Biting her lip, Rom glanced towards the desk — there was so much paperwork still... "Are you sure you have to do it all? There has to be an easier way to do this than going through all of _that_..."

"Hmph!" Still refusing to look her sister in the eye, Ram closed her eyes and held up a finger, smirking as though she were informing her sister of something she had the utmost confidence in — a stark contrast to the throbbing vein of obvious frustration that had made its presence all the more apparent on her forehead. "That's where you're wrong, Rom! I definitely have to do it all! Nepgear and Uni think they're so good, with their 'Goodness, I'm glad I got everything done in time for lunch... It was so close!'s and their 'Really? I did it all last night so I could have the day off's! I'm not gonna lose to them!"

Rom simply nodded understandingly, a sheepish smile forming on her lips. They had had this conversation enough times for her to know that her trying to point out what was wrong with the situation was a fruitless battle. Much as she loved her sister, Ram could be more stubborn than everyone else she knew put together sometimes. After all, that lunch with the other CPUs had happened _months_ ago... And Ram always conveniently left out the fact that the last of their number _hadn't even_ _been there_ because she'd been up all night playing video games and had slept right through the time the goddesses had decided to meet for lunch that day!

Seeing her sister's nonchalant attitude didn't seem to please the younger goddess too much, however.

"Come on, Rom! I take this stuff seriously! I'm not as good at it as you are... Besides, it's not like I can just come out and say **not all of the short stories in this series will be connected to the main plot**, you know? That's the kind of stuff Nepgear's dumb little sister would say." A dismissive snort. "She still can't let it go that she got to be the main character that _one time_, and how long has it been since then? Two games and all those remakes and spinoff ones? Seriously, I'd feel bad for Nepgear if we didn't have our own 'problem child' too..."

Oh... Now Ram was on about everyone's little sisters again... Rom probably should have brought a drink for herself. Did they have any punch left? She'd have to check as soon as Ram was done... Oh, would Ram have preferred punch? Rom should have asked, shouldn't she... What was with that odd bolded dialogue, though? Rom couldn't help but be curious...

"... and you know what? I bet one of these days, Uni's sister is gonna do something totally crazy to make up for how perfect she is — she's gonna hit a rebellious phase and pick up a bunch of girls and run away to another dimension to marry all of 'em! Yeah, I bet she'll do something like that! _Then_ we'll see whose sister is the..." A pause, followed by another embarrassed look. "Ohhh, forget it, you're not even _listening_." Crossing her arms, Ram shook her head before giving the unfinished paperwork on the desk a sharp glare. "I'm not gonna make _you_ do it, but it's still so _annoying_! Why do I have to do all this work just to let people know that **this series of short stories will have stories connected to the first chapter and ones like this one that are self-contained **too? Can't people, you know... _infer_ that kind of stuff by seeing it play out? When one doesn't connect to that story, they can be like, 'Oh, this one is separate!' and just read it, right?"

Rom tilted her head as she watched her sister groan about the uselessness of the work she had been doing. She wanted to point out that there had been an odd, almost unnatural emphasis on some of the words that Ram had spoken, but maybe that would be too obvious...? Oh well — she had come here with snacks for her hard-at-work sister (or hardly working sister, as it turned out), so there was no harm in finding her like this. As for some of what she'd said, though...

"You shouldn't talk about Neptune like that, Ram. She's Blanc's friend — and Nepgear's sister, too. You know how much she likes you, and here you are making fun of her." Putting on her stern face — quite a feat for kind hearted Rom, known Gamindustri-wide as the sweetest CPU one ever did see — Rom set down the tray she had brought in and put her hands on her hips in a manner that would have made her look like the spitting image of her twin. "I don't think Uni and Noire would appreciate that... whatever it was you thought up just then either."

Were she younger, Ram might have immediately faltered or become flustered at such an act from her sister. Rom taking the lead like this would have certainly had the effect on a younger Ram — but the idea of _that_ was just silly, wasn't it? Rom and Ram were older! And being older, and a CPU on top of that, Ram simply rolled her eyes, following that by opening her mouth to make what was undoubtedly a snide remark given the expression on her face.

"But Rom... Wouldn't it be nice to not have the weird sister for once...?" The look on Rom's face got even sterner. It was rare for her to make these faces outside of Ram's company, but the quieter of the two had a power over her sister that perhaps no one else in Gamindustri did. There was an old saying — Gamindustri hath no fury like (the older) White Heart scorned. "F-Fine! It's not like I don't like her or anything... S-She's not _that_ bad a kid... Most of the time. Neptune and Noire are okay too." Kicking her shoe against the ground, Ram found her place again and raised her voice defiantly after having trailed off in the face of her sister's Serious Face. "But just so you know, _I_ didn't think up that thing about Uni. _Blanc_ was telling Noire about a 'vision' she had had this morning on the phone."

That seemed to pacify Rom well enough. Her expression softened. After a moment of consideration, Rom turned to the papers on the desk and began putting them all in a single pile. Flabbergasted, Ram began making noises of confusion every time something was picked up — s-she'd been organized! what was Rom doing!? — but Rom paid it no mind.

"There... No more of that. I think everyone has the idea. Now, isn't this better...? It's much nicer when we all get along." Her voice almost melodic in a way, the older of the twin CPUs began making her way out of the office, much to Ram's continued confusion. She wasn't _near_ done, and now she... She... "Ram, are you coming?"

"Coming where?"

* * *

><p>The two CPUs were standing outside of a black door. They had been standing outside of it for what seemed like an eternity — in reality, it had only been about a minute since they had arrived in front of the mysterious block of wood. It had the appearance of an antique despite the fact that it had been made recently, hand painted and made from the wood of the last tree standing in the oldest cemetery in all of Gamindustri. It was the only door like it in the entire Basilicom. Every time Ram passed by it, she would swear that she had just been cursed by another vengeful spirit, angry that their only shield from the sun had been taken away for such a stupid looking door.<p>

A door that was currently the only thing protecting them from their younger sister.

"I don't see why we have to go out to eat together... She'll just freak out the restaurant staff again. What about those snacks, huh, huh?" Ram had been complaining the entire walk through the Basilicom, but Rom simply responded with a soft smile and an insistence that they were a family the entire time. True as it was, and as much as Ram — in her own, surprisingly tsundere way — _did_ care about her little sister too... Was it so wrong to want a little normalcy? "Can't you or I just pick something up or cook like usual? _She_ might offer if we're not careful..."

"You can't cook anything that isn't almost entirely sweets. Besides, you know Blanc is a better cook than you." To an outsider, it looked like Rom was trying to let her sister down as gently as she could — with kind eyes and a soft voice. To Ram, Rom was ruthless in her use of the vile weapon known as truth. Ram visible flinched in awe of the mighty weapon, cursing Rom's mastery of it and shooting a dirty look at the door in response. "Please? I, um, I'll make your favorite for dinner. I... I don't want this chapter to end on a sour note, Ram, in case... I mean, if we don't get another appearance like this..."

Ram sighed. Rom could be tough (or Rom's adorable, soft voiced, usually quiet version of tough) when it came to helping Ram with _her_ problems, but when it was Rom trying to deal with _her own_ worries — usually the worries she had regarding Ram and their younger sister's often strained relationship — then, well... Ram's dear old twin started to fall to pieces.

"Fine... J-Just don't come crying to me if she gets to be too much trouble, okay!?" Some might have said there might have been a certain word for the sort of responses Ram was offering, but such things weren't of any matter now — for Ram was pushing forward with this horrible idea now, regardless of how she felt about it. Just as Ram grasped the doorknob, however, she hesitated. She looked at her sister, an all too serious expression crossing her features. "Don't forget, Rom... The only thing _she_ cooks is meat."

"At least it's healthier than fried candy bars... We can always go out if we have to." After tactfully reminding her sister of the last time Ram had tried cooking, Rom placed her own hand over her sister's and pushed over the door along with her so they could enter the realm of Blanc. "Blanc? Ram and I are coming in..."

The sight that greeted them... Well, a "sight" certainly covered what it was well enough.

Dark colors filled the room. There was very little light, save for the candles (now and forever merely lights that looked like candles after the accidental fire and subsequent grounding for life-but-not-really-once-Rom-got-home) that lit up the grim room. Strange markings decorated the walls, floor, and ceiling — where there should have been posters of games and cakes ("Ram, no one else puts cakes on their wall..." "D-Do too!") and other such normal things instead stood incantations, magic circles, and all manners of scribbles.

There was no doubt about it.

This was the room of a girl with the dreaded illness known as eighth grade syndrome.

This... was White Sister's room.

In the center of this room was a bed. It was round, as per the request of the room's owner. Perfect for the customized magic circle bed sheets and blankets that adorned it — not that they were currently being used right now. For at this very moment, standing on top of all of that, was none other than...

"I see you two _goddesses_ have finally fallen for the flags that I set off... The dark ruler has been waiting. I knew you would fall from the light sooner or later." ... the owner of the room herself, clad in her pajamas (naturally made to look like black wizard robes, but adorably a size too big) and wearing the fake fangs in her mouth she had insisted on getting last Pongsmas. Despite her bold words, her tone was in fact lacking the dramatic flair or the arrogance one might expect of it — in fact, it was quite quiet all things considered, even with the small smile she wore as she spoke. Some might have called it endearing for a quiet girl to have such a terrible case of the syndrome, but her sisters... "The act is forbidden in your society, but mine has no need for it. Come, 'sisters,' I need your essence in order to sustain my body's physical form."

Ram? Ram felt like crying.

Why? What had she done? Had she been a troublesome child in a previous life? Was that it? Had she done something terrible, like scribbled all over her older sister's would-have-been award winning manuscript, preventing it from ever going to print...? Was that it!? She would repent, she would! Just please, someone, _fix her sister_!

"Are you _sure_ we can't banish her to another nation? I'll be your CPU Candidate if we can banish her, even if it's just for a week. I don't mind, real-" Though she had only been teasing — every time she came into this room, Ram found herself needing to adjust, as though she suffered from culture shock every time she interacted with her sister — she knew just as well it had been in poor taste all the same. Didn't stop her from making it though.

"_Ram_!" On the other hand, Rom raising her voice was more than enough to make Ram feel like a little girl being chastised by an adult. She had become the go-to mediator and "now stop arguing and hug"-er of the three sisters, and she was more than used to Blanc's shenanigans. Most of the time she found it cute, and the rest she found it harmless so long as nothing or no one was getting hurt or broken. "Now, um... Blanc, I don't think you know what you're talking about."

"Haven't been indoctrinated into adulthood yet? Or are you just playing dumb?" The girl clicked her tongue, surveying the CPUs before her as though they were children. The fact that they were very clearly _not_ children, while she very much _was_ the youngest one in the room, did not seem to be of importance to the little goddess. "I wish to take your hands and drain your essences through them. How else would I do it?"

Ram had to cover her mouth to prevent herself from bursting out laughing in response to her sister's ignorance — though even as she snorted, inwardly, she was secretly so relieved she could practically burst into open sobs and thrust her fist joyously into the air over the fact that Blanc hadn't said "I wish to mate with you two." or something horrible like that. At least, for now, she seemed to have _some_ things about life wrong... For once, though, that was a good thing.

For her part, Rom just found it sweet that Blanc thought _that_ was done by just holding hands, and she'd be sure to use that as proof Blanc was a sweet and normal little girl the next time Ram started bellyaching about it.

"You two are so slow... Are you making fun of me?!" Unaware of her sisters' thoughts about her, the quiet girl on the bed began to frown. Hopping down from the bed, the CPU Candidate looked harshly at the peasants that stood before her in her dark chambers of darkness. She was only a little less than a head shorter than the twins, but they still treated her like such a _child_ sometimes... _Noire_ looked younger than she did and got more respect, but she was no better than a common sheep...! "Don't make me draw upon the hellfire that lives within me. I could incinerate this entire building if I wanted to, so you'd better hurry up and give me your essence...!"

"That's okay, Blanc... I think Ram and I would prefer keeping it, Blanc." Looking at her sister for confirmation first, who could only manage a nod in response as she tried to stifle her laughter — a feat becoming significantly easier with Blanc threatening arson now — Rom turned to Blanc and gave her a kind, hopeful look. "Why don't we stop playing the game for a little while and go out to a nice restaurant for once?"

Ram's laughs had completely subsided at this point — she could already see where this was going, and she didn't even have to look at Blanc to know it.

"Hmph... I'm not _playing_, goddess. Your tactics will not dissuade me." Tossing her arm in the air with an especially dramatic flair, allowing her robes to strike out at the very air itself, Blanc clenched her fists at her side, preparing to begin the ancient ritual to summon forth the demonic flames sleeping within her. "You will feed me yourselves, right here and right-"

"That's it! Stop, stop!" Wondering why she hadn't just started with this when Blanc, Ram stepped forward and picked up the "dark ruler" underneath her arms. Giving the girl a harsh look, she made sure Rom wasn't too upset by Ram's flat out rejection — oh, look at that, she wasn't upset at all — before she laid into Blanc, who was already putting up quite the fight now that her sworn holy nemesis, a goddess, had dared to _touch_ her evil skin. "If you don't shape up right now, me and Rom are leaving to eat out and you can deal with your favorite babysitter."

The struggling CPU Candidate froze almost instantly upon hearing the word "babysitter."

"The... The _succubus_? You would subject your own blood to such _torture_? What about the Oracle? Her resting period _has_ to be over by now...!"

Despite the look of complete and utter shock on Blanc's face, Ram could only smile broadly at her occasionally adorable little twerp of a sister. When it came down to it, she truly didn't get what her little sister's deal was with Leanbox's CPU, but mentioning her always seemed to get her to calm down, at least. Besides, letting Vert babysit was good for everybody — she stopped being mopey that Rom got a younger twin _and_ a younger sister while she got nobody, and she and Rom could go hang out without worrying what Blanc might be getting into without them around to stop her from kidnapping dogoos and gluing wings to them again.

"Now now, that's not nice. Vert really likes you, Blanc. As for Mina, she, um..." Choosing this moment to pipe in, after a moment, Rom hesitated. How could she tell Blanc that Mina had quit (again) after the bloody soap incident in the fall? That would hurt Blanc's feelings ("Or worse, she might try to do it again." "..." "What, aren't you gonna chew me out for that one? Rooo~ooom, you're leaving me hanging!" "I... I really... _really_ don't want that to happen again, Ram... I still get scared of taking showers after dark... It was everywhere... Everywhere, Ram... It was like a... _hic_... a horror movie..." "H-Hold on, stop crying! Stop, I can't- S-Stop it, okay? It's fine, she promised not to do it again! She even made that creepy blood pact, remember?" "_That was soap tooooo...!_"), and Rom would never do that to her younger sister on purpose. "A-Anyway, so, um... Vert likes you, you know...!"

"And shouldn't you get along with a succubus? I'm pretty sure a dark ruler would get along great with one..." Ram commented offhandedly, paying no mind to the increasingly concerned expression on her little sister's face. It was these rare moments that her crazy sister actually acted most normal, and she couldn't help but enjoy them a little — in that respect, she owed Vert one, she supposed.

"Her kind knows nothing of 'like.' Her race only knows _lust_... Have you not seen her chambers? They're filled with her victims! She turns them all into toys after she's sucked them dry of their essence!" Did she actually believe this stuff? ... Then again, Vert probably had teased her, and Blanc... didn't exactly "get" teasing. Never mind, Ram didn't owe Vert anything. "You two must protect me!"

In any case, what Ram _did_ get that was that it was always hilarious watching her little sister talk about Vert when she wasn't around, though. She supposed this eighth grade syndrome _could_ be good for some things once in a while. On the other hand, if she remembered right...

"Didn't you just say you wanted to suck us of _our_ essences a minute ago?" Ram pointed out as innocently as she could.

Blanc's eyes widened. She had been caught! She couldn't ask for their assistance if they were fearing for their lives, even if their lives _were_ hers to use as she wished to begin with... But more importantly... No, she couldn't...! She mustn't! They could never know of the corruption within her...!

Back in the real world, the CPU Candidate stopped struggling and went silent. Rom and Ram exchanged looks — Rom seemed concerned, Ram seemed more annoyed than anything else... though she too was concerned. A little. Maybe... _Maybe a little_.

"I didn't think that would break her, okay? She should work out plot holes like that _before_ she starts raving at us." Ram ignored Rom's frown and instead set their younger sister down into a sitting position on her bed, whose gaze was pointedly downcast now. Under most circumstances, Ram would consider this a tremendous victory — somehow she'd gotten Blanc to quiet down. Sure, she didn't know how or why, but she'd done it, so that was a win, right? But with how she was looking right now... "Uhh... H-Hey, Rom, why don't you...?"

"Why don't you try talking to her, Ram...?" For reasons Ram couldn't understand, in all her stubbornness and her own ways, Rom seemed to be avoiding her usual role. That was just peachy. If that was the case, then... "I... I think she's settled down now. Now's a good time, isn't it...?"

The goddess sighed, already conceding her defeat. Initially, Ram considered protesting the issue, but seeing as Rom probably wouldn't budge on the matter unless _she_ started acting like a dumb kid next too, she knew that no matter what she did, she'd be doing what Rom wanted. With that put into consideration, after straightening out her clothes, the CPU sat down next to her younger sister and... well, she managed that much.

After nothing came to her immediately, she mouthed the words "Now what?" at Rom. Unfortunately for her, Rom had chosen that exact moment to admire some of Blanc's scribbles that decorated her wall. They were pretty well done, even if they creeped Ram out — way better than anything Ram bet she would have done if she were a kid. She hated to admit it, but... No, actually, she didn't hate to admit that. That was a starting point, wasn't it?

"Look, I don't get all this stuff you like so much and you know it, so I'm gonna skip all that today if it's okay with you, okay squirt?" Blanc seemed affronted by Ram's name, but Ram ignored her. "I let you go on about my essence, let me have my turn. Now like I was saying... Um... You _do_ seem pretty creative, so that's something, right? Why don't you try writing a book? Maybe there are people out there who would, you know, um..." Ram looked to Rom for help — she totally sucked at this kind of thing! This was why Rom was the pep talk giver! Rom, however, simply made an encouraging hand motion. "That's why you should pump that stuff out for people to read and enjoy too, just like you!"

"So... You're saying I should release my dark manuscript to the masses and use my words to force them to devote themselves to the dark ways?" Blanc looked at her sister in wide eyed wonder, as if she was seeing the young woman in a whole new light. "I never knew you were capable of such dark machinations, goddess... The dark lord is impress-"

Seeing her little sister moments from getting started again, Ram let out a frustrated cry and stood up. She'd had enough of this...! Besides, wasn't this story supposed to be about _her_ as a little kid? She wanted out!

"Forget it! I tried, okay? Rom, she's your sister, you deal with it!" Shaking her head, Ram started towards the door (of darkness). "I'm getting dinner! What do you two want?"

"It's good you know your place." Seeming to perk up at the sound of a meal, Blanc didn't seem that bothered that Ram had left in the middle of their... "conversation." Instead, her mind was already apparently on a one way track towards the meal to come. "I have a craving for bloody bovine flesh, goddess."

As she settled down next to Blanc in the seat on the bed Ram had just vacated, Rom turned to Ram to translate the Candidate's order.

"Ram, Blanc wants-"

"I know, I know, she wants a burger as rare as they'll make it with extra ketchup." Looking over her shoulder as she reached the doorway, Ram grinned at the dumbfounded expression on her twin's face. "Hey, don't give me that! I may not get the stuff she _likes_, but I still get _her_... I think." She shook her head, just missing Rom's face erupt in an earnest smile at the words she had just spoken about Blanc. "I'll get the usual for us, 'kay? Be back soon guys!"

With her quest set, Ram was off. She fled from the realm of darkness, making great haste in order to bring back supplies for the stranded goddesses that would be dining with the realm's dark ruler that evening.

Having been left alone with the more angelic of the two goddesses, Blanc felt her confidence slip somewhat. It was easier to be the dark ruler with her arch nemesis around, but the corruption inside of her — in other words, the goddess' little sister — liked to defy her true nature as the dark ruler when she was alone with Rom. Perhaps she had the power to bring that out in people? What a terrifying opponent...

"Do you... Do you think Ra-" Blanc shook her head. She had almost said something she shouldn't have. Clearing her throat, she deepened her voice somewhat and tried again. "That is... Do you think your doppelganger knows I consider her to be an exceptional slave? Even among my others?"

As she spoke, Blanc raised her hand to gesture to the various things in her room. Among them, stuffed animals (all suited to her... unique tastes) and even some little statuettes. "Slaves" indeed. Smiling a little at the idea, Rom took her sister's raised hand in her own — thus doing what the girl had wanted from that whole "essence stealing" tirade all along... not that even young Blanc was aware of it. As Blanc began to calm down with her hand in her eldest sister's, Rom laughed as she thought over her sister's words — and what they really meant.

If only her twin knew how alike she and Blanc really were.

"Yes, Blanc, you don't need to worry. She knows how you feel... And Blanc...?"

A beat. Rom could just picture Ram now. Making the trek to Blanc's favorite burger restaurant, even though it was on the other side of the city, when there were so many closer ones, just because they made burgers the way Blanc liked them. "The usual," of course, had been referring to meals of the twins' preference from a nearby restaurant.

Yes... There was no doubt about it. Not that there ever had been.

"Ram loves you too."


	3. January 15: Going Grownup

Ram sighed.

Rom sighed.

Then, in unison, both twins sighed.

Not one single person outside of the other CPUs and Candidates had mentioned anything about the holiday since it had started. There weren't posters or parades or even celebratory movies being made in Ram's honor. Two weeks, _two whole weeks_, had gone by, and there wasn't _anything_. Even when Ram had gone out of her way to say hello to the people of Lowee, while they had certainly seemed like they had appreciated it, not one person had wished her a Happy Ram Year!

"Maybe..." Rom glanced at her sister. The two of them were sitting side by side at a desk, crayons and paper splayed out before them. At first, they had thought drawing would get their mind off of things, but they had both ended up just doodling what their floats should look like for the parade (Ram kept assuring Rom that she would get a year too, and that she was included in her year because they were twins — just like she would be in Rom's year!). "N-No, um... Never mind..."

Groaning, Ram dropped her head onto her arm, rolling it onto its side to look at her sister.

For the best holiday she had ever heard of, it sure hadn't been very fun yet.

"I wonder if we're doing something wrong..." Finally speaking the words that had been floating around her mind for the past few days, Ram closed her eyes and tried to think about what could have made it so that the entire world wouldn't be willing to celebrate her holiday. Frowning, the young goddess sat up and looked to her sister. "Am I a bad girl, Rom?"

"What...? N-No, Ram...!" Shaking her head furiously, the older of the twins quickly put her hands on one of her sister's arms. Struggling to find a word to describe what she could call her sister that wouldn't offend her without lying, Rom settled on one she had seen in action on more than one occasion. "M-Maybe just... honest...?"

Ram's frown only deepened.

That was what their sister said about Vert on the rare days they were getting along and she was trying to be "tactful." That Vert was "just really honest" or something grownup and smarty pants like that. Was Rom so far ahead of her that she could use things like that without thinking it sounded weird now...?

Just as she was about to groan again and consider giving up for good, a thought struck the rambunctious girl like lightning.

Maybe... She was too much of a kid to get her holiday? What if she was more grownup? Would that work...?

"Rom, I've got an idea! Follow me!"

Hopping off her chair, Ram grabbed her sister's hand and took off.

This was going to work for sure!

* * *

><p>Blanc had had an... interesting day, to say the least.<p>

Noire had invited her over to talk about some new collaboration idea she'd had, and she'd been interested in the idea enough to fly over to Lastation right after breakfast... But that had somehow led to the two of them arguing about Neptune, Blanc still didn't know how, which in turn led to the two of them borrowing some Lastation Portables from Noire's sister to compete in hunting games for hours so they could settle an argument that had absolutely nothing to do with their initial argument... and it had _ended_ with them making Uni join them when they got stuck against a particularly tough enemy, only to play for another two hours after that, having long since forgotten why they'd started playing in the first place.

Needless to say, Blanc was both satisfied as well as straight up exhausted. She was looking forward to a nice, warm bath, some dinner, and maybe borrowing one of the twins' own hunting games to start getting some practice in for the next time she had a chance to show up Noire. After that... Bed. A perfect way to end a pretty good day. Considering Ram had _finally_ started to let up about that stupid holiday thing, she figured it wouldn't be so bad if she even offered to play with the twins instead of just jacking their game and leaving.

Unfortunately for Blanc, fate had other ideas in store for her tonight. After letting Mina know she had returned, she approached the twins' bedroom to inform them of the plan for the evening. Before she could knock, however, she overheard pieces of the absolutely _strangest_ conversation...

"Ram... A-Are you sure...?"

"Yeah! Of course I'm sure. Have I ever been wrong before?"

"Don't... think so..."

"See? You need to trust your big sister."

Blinking, the CPU withdrew her hand from the doorknob she had been reaching for. What kind of game were these two up to now? Mina had said they'd been behaving well today, Ram hadn't even tried to make Mina dress up and celebrate like she had the first week (for some reason Mina seemed disappointed when she relayed this information), so surely it wasn't anything to worry about...

"Huh...? But Ram, I'm..."

"Rooooom! _I'm _the big sister right now, _remember_?"

A picturing of what was taking place in the room beginning to form in her mind, Blanc slowly nodded to herself in understanding.

Okay, she got this. They were playing pretend. Sighing in relief, Blanc turned to go. She could come back later. Besides, if she stayed any longer, she was sure she would overhear something that was actually completely innocent but, because of her inability to see what was going on, misunderstand it and make a fool out of herself. Like she'd fall for something so stupid!

"O-Oh, right..."

"Now get on the bed like on the cover of that book."

Her leg already raised in the air, Blanc froze in mid-stride. The smirk she had slapped onto her face, proud of herself for not being foiled by such an obvious plot device, faltered. She glanced in the direction of the door she was about to walk away from.

Wasn't kids... _actually_ doing things that _weren't_ completely innocent also a pretty common plot device...? What if... What if, by realizing what was happening — or what she _thought_ was happening — she was actually abandoning them to do something totally obscene...?! If Vert was to be believed (not that Blanc would call Vert an expert on these things, but she _had_ seen the other CPU's reading material), then wasn't that a serious risk right now...?!

"Um... Like this...?"

"Good!"

Unless... What if that was what she was _supposed_ to think? What if it really _was_ something completely innocent, and she was only thinking this way because it was all a trap! When had she even talked to Vert about the crap she read anyway!? Maybe once or twice at... some point, but... This was definitely a trap.

Shaking her head, Blanc set her foot down on the ground and placed her hand on chest. Taking in a deep breath, she closed her eyes. This was such an obvious cliche, how could she let herself get so riled up over it? Get a grip, girl.

She was going to leave the twins to whatever game they were playing and that was final.

"Now hold still...! I just gotta turn on the camera, then I can come over there to take that off you, and then I'll finally be a grownup too!"

She was going to break the door down and that was final.

* * *

><p>Let it never be said that Ram was not a genius. Whether that was because she was a genius of unprecedented brilliance or because the idea of her being a genius simply never needed to be questioned for... well, <em>other<em> reasons, that doesn't need to be clarified here.

In the hopes of finally enjoying her holiday, Ram had realized that perhaps she was too young for people to consider it worthy of celebrating. If she didn't have _respect_, how could people _ever_ think to celebrate her? So she had to grow up!

At this point, things had seemed logical enough that, even as Rom was being dragged down the hallways of the Basilicom, she didn't feel the need to question her sister. It all added up in her mind.

When they had arrived at their sister's room and Ram started digging through garbage bags (Blanc's manuscripts — unused drafts that she both found too embarrassing to ever show anyone and at the same time liked too much to ever let leave her room in case she changed her mind, among other things), on the other hand... Rom started to have reservations.

"Ram...? Is going through trash... _really_... grown up...?" Not that Rom knew it, but needless to say, she was very lucky Mina or Vert weren't in the room at that moment. With it only being her and her sister at the moment, the girl was free to be worried about her twin without the guilty looks of the older women confusing the matter further.

"You remember that 'convenshun' thing Sis went to? The one she wouldn't let us go to?" Ram, on the other hand, was too busy to notice her sister's concern. The amount of trash bags since she had last been in the room had seemingly tripled, and most of them were filled with papers and scribbles and the occasional angry unsent letters to other CPUs, but not what she was looking for. "Right before she left, she got us these huuuuuge chocolate bars! She said if we were good, she'd give 'em to us when we got back... But she never did!"

Remembering the convention in question, Rom nodded slowly. It had been a relatively recent one — Blanc liked sneaking off to them, it seemed, about twice a year...? Rom didn't really keep track, but she did occasionally get presents brought back (for some reason Blanc would apologize sometimes when she gave them to her), so they had become a little memorable that way. She did distinctly remember the chocolate never getting delivered that time, now that Ram mentioned it.

"So, remember that day you and Mina were both sick and she had to take care of you guys?" Ram was starting to sound excited as she recounted her story — she already _felt_ grownup, just telling a story like her sister did! — the fact that Uni had remarked to her ("You know what they say about people who don't catch colds..." later was conveniently ignored. "I came looking for it. It was right after that, and I found one of the books Sis got at it all torn up in the trash... But I put the cover together with some tape!"

Nodding once more, Rom stayed silent as she listened to her sister's story. She wasn't sure how this led to going through trash bags, but surely Ram wouldn't steer her wrong.

"Guess what?" Looking from the bags she had been sifting through to her sister with a mischievous look, Ram's eyes twinkled in delight. It was time for her to make her super duper dramatic reveal! "Right there, right on the front, it said in biiiiiiig letters: 'ADULTS ONLY'! It was a grownup book! It even had Sis on it! After I found the chocolate, I hid it in one of these so I could find it later, and if I just do what they were doing on the cover, then everybody will think I'm a grownup too!"

As if on cue, Rom gasped loudly, her hands flying to her mouth in shock over hearing the horrible misdeed her sister had misdone.

"Ram! You... You can't..." Lowering her hands, Rom looked at the trash bags as if they were now filled with something dangerous. Closing her eyes, Rom thought back to all the warnings that the CPU Candidates had received about those dangerous books — the warnings that, in one instance, their fellow Candidates decided to test. "Poor Nepgear didn't listen..."

Ram rolled her eyes at her sister. While she had never seen any of these books in person, besides for the cover that she had repaired anyway, she couldn't imagine what got everyone so flustered about them. Books were too boring to be worth reactions like that... At least, that was what old, _kid_ Ram thought. New, _adult_ Ram, though...!

"Awww, she got over it fast enough, didn't she? I still don't see what the big deal is... They're very _normal_ and _insectlectual_ reading material." Grumbling to herself while still being sure she was acting like she knew exactly what she was talking about, Ram shoved the bag she had been going through out of the way and began sifting through the next. Not even a moment after she began, she felt it. It wasn't like all the crumpled up paper, and she could feel the tape even now. "Got it! Look, Rom!"

Despite her fears, Rom was... fairly certain Ram would still protect her, so — not without hesitation — the girl slowly looked at the thing the CPU Candidate had withdrawn from the trash bag. She had to look over it a few times just to make sure that there really _was_ the "ADULTS ONLY" mark that her sister had mentioned, but sure enough... There it was.

Just what kind of book for grownups would have her sister on the cover like this...? It didn't look that strange...

While Ram let Rom observe the cover some more as she went to go get some of the other items she needed from their older sister's room, the CPU Candidate slowly tilted her head to the side.

As she continued to wonder, a much more important thing struck the girl.

"... I never got any of the chocolate Ram found..."

"O-Oh, um, I... I'll give you some later!" Ram was back, and while Rom was still looking at the ground, the younger twin was still feeling like she could practically see Rom looking up at her with a horrible, betrayed looking expression. "A-Anyway, just look! Tell me! How do I look? Do I look okay?"

Frowning, Rom accepted the offer of chocolate "later" and turned to see just what Ram had done... before her eyes widened.

"You look... good."

* * *

><p>As Blanc quite literally smashed through the twins' bedroom door, she knew even then she might have been doing something stupid. Considering that there was still the chance that she might <em>not<em> be doing something stupid, she decided it was a risk worth taking. She'd have to get them a new door either way, but besides for that, what was the worst that could happen?

The scene in the twins' room in that one moment could almost be described as comical in its insanity. There were splinters and wood chips flying everywhere, of course. Rom was lying on the bed. There was a stuffed octopus sitting on top of her. Ram, wearing _her_ clothes for... reasons Blanc did not really want to know, had been approaching Rom and the octopus on the bed.

And last but not least, there was Blanc, the dutiful older sister, with her hammer held firmly in her hands, still in mid-smash, taking care of what had once been a fine, upstanding member of the door race.

While Blanc tried to process what was happening, while the twins froze up, shocked at the entrance of their sister, which had come with no warning at all... All while this was happening, with splinters still flying through the air and all frozen in place... There was a click...

... and then a flash.

Less than three seconds later, the (eventually famous) picture of the CPU of Lowee smashing down her sisters' bedroom door as they were unknowingly in the middle of reenacting the cover of _WhOte HOOrt versus The Tentacle Princess_ was automatically uploaded to Ram's Chirper account, and in less than a minute, it was already all over the internet.

* * *

><p>"Hahahaha! Nepgear, look! Look at what Noire just sent me! ... Nepgear?"<p>

"O-Oh, um... Be right back! I-I just need to make sure I wasn't robbed recently... Huh? W-Who said anything about robbed? Hahaha, I mean, um, I mean- G-Gotta go!"

"...? Why'd she run away like that? She's so weird sometimes... All I wanted was to show her this cat video."

Shrugging, Neptune returned to watching the video, completely unaware that at that very moment, her sweet and "innocent" little sister was tearing apart the Basilicom to make sure that the twins hadn't taken a certain book with them after their last visit.


	4. January 22: Touchy Touchy

It was a peaceful day in Gamindustri. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the monsters were being brutally murdered for the 1% chance of a rare drop... It was just impossibly perfect out — and this was no less true for the CPU Candidates. The quartet of young goddesses had decided to have a picnic, and after much deliberation, they had settled on having it in a forest in Planeptune where they could pick all kinds of tasty fruits to go along with their dessert (they had learned about the place after Nisa once told them she had fought a homeless RPG hero dressed up like an orange... or maybe it was a lemon...). The CPU Candidates had just finished eating their sandwiches and were enjoying the good company, all seated together in a circle, when...

_It_ happened.

"Hey... I've been wondering... Why is it that when Ram transforms, she's a different color than Rom?"

Nepgear's question, seemingly innocent in nature, took all three other Candidates by surprise. It didn't particularly sound that strange to her, at least she thought so — it was just something she had been thinking about. Sitting across from her was Uni — and while Uni had never thought about it, now that it was being brought to her attention, she too found it strikingly unusual that two twins ended up such _strikingly_ different colors upon transformation.

"Yeah, that's true. You're not the same color as your older sister either, right? Only Rom is..."

Neither Nepgear (seated on her knees and looking over at the twins curiously) nor Uni (lying on her stomach, legs kicking up behind her while she too looked over at the twin in question) expected any particularly strange reactions out of the twins. There was no reason to expect it, after all — it probably wasn't anything _serious_...

At least, that's what they would have been able to think had they not actually looked at the two girls.

They were acting... unusual. Ram looked more alarmed than both Nepgear and Uni had ever seen her — she was spluttering and was at a loss for words, as if she'd been caught playing a game that she'd just got done saying was one that she didn't like, or if someone at school had seen her with a pimple she'd spent hours trying to hide... Rom, for her part, was more surprised for her sister's sake than her own, and seemed to be quietly trying to figure out what to do. Maybe... honesty was the best way?

Taking a deep breath, Rom gave her sister an apologetic look from across their circle (which went unnoticed by the intended party) before finally revealing the secret they had been keeping for so long.

"R-Ram... Ram is our touch screen..."

"Uwaaah... _Really_?" "W-Whaaaat!? She is!?" "ROOOOO-OOOOOOOOM-! YOU _SAID_ YOU WOULDN'T _TELL_!"

The reactions of the other three Candidates came instantly. Nepgear seemed interested in the matter, but had quickly been silenced by the other reactions. Uni seemed shocked for some reason, for she bolted upright and was now propped up on her palms and staring. As for the GameGirl Touch herself, Ram had pulled her hat down over her eyes to hide from the reactions of her friends, her face a horribly bright shade of red now that her dastardly secret had been revealed. Rom, on the other hand, was at her sister's side, apologizing quietly.

"I-It's okay... It's Nepgear and Uni... T-They won't..." Rom looked hesitantly at the two girls for a moment, before looking back at her sister, who looked like (from Rom's vantage point of just barely being able to see under the tugged down hat) she was on the verge of tears. "They won't tell anyone else... It's our secret still, it's just... Um..."

The Candidates became momentarily silent. Ram was still feeling shell shocked that her most shameful secret had been revealed in such a way — without warning no less — while the others were simply processing the events that had transpired.

"Hmph... I-I won't tell anyone." Surprisingly, it was Uni that spoke of first rather than Nepgear, but Planeptune's CPU Candidate followed suit as soon as she did — nodding her agreement and offering noises of assent as well. Shooting a look at Nepgear, Uni realized that this seemed to be up to her, and thus, she continued onwards. "So... C-Chin up! You're, um, killing the mood, okay?"

With the implication that all was well, all should _have_ been well. Even so, Ram simply looked bitterly down at the blanket they had been sitting on, remaining silent for a few moments. Everyone was looking at her expectantly... Nepgear and Uni perhaps more so than Rom.

She didn't feel like staying. She _really_ didn't feel like staying anymore. She wanted to run away and pretend no one knew. She wanted to go home and hide in her bed and pull the covers over and make sure no one would call her a gimmick or "unique" or "polaroidilizing" or... or anything else that was weird or too big for her to understand like that — not that anyone here had done that, but that didn't mean they wouldn't! She was just Ram! That was all she was!

With everyone looking at her like that though... Maybe that was how they already felt?

She supposed... She could stay... It wouldn't be so bad if they weren't going to make fun of her...

"F..." Swallowing her nervousness, Ram forced a half-hearted smile to the group. "Fine! I'll stay!"

And so Ram stayed. At first, all seemed like it had indeed returned to normal, just as Ram had been led to believe. The picnic, which had been essentially almost over at that point anyway, wasn't quite the same afterwards. Although the four girls resumed what they were doing — trying to just enjoy themselves and their day off — without much issue, it slowly started to become obvious that something was amiss.

As Ram began to eat her dessert, finally starting to think that maybe she had just been overthinking things, that she really _could_ count on her friends, something shoved her side — her cake splattered onto her face, her fork poking her in the cheek, rather than going anywhere _near_ the intended target of her mouth. Already in an emotionally sensitive place as it was, Ram most definitely didn't appreciate the loss of comfort food. But why? What sort of dastardly monster could have caused her to lose out on her precious cake?! Sure, there was still some fruit and cookies left, but she had _wanted_ that cake!

"Oh _no_ Ram, it's gone _everywhere_..." Oh... It was just Nepgear. She _had_ been sitting next to Ram — it must have been an accident. Sighing in annoyance, too tired to whine at Nepgear, the CPU Candidate raised her hand to see if she could salvage the treat on her face — only for the girl to suddenly look strangely alarmed about it. "Wait, let me do it, Ram...! Here, you can have some of mine — you only lost yours because of me after all..."

Offering the girl a smile, Nepgear scooted closer to the CPU Candidate to offer some of her own cake, seemingly as a peace offering, with a napkin in her other hand — apparently all set to clean up the mess she'd made. Seeing no harm in it, Ram shrugged and took it onto her plate. She'd just been planning on eating it, but if she got this much cake out of letting Nepgear wipe it up for her, she didn't mind. She happened to be proud of the fact that Mina didn't have to do that kind of stuff for her and Rom anymore, but... There was _cake _involved this time.

Thus, Ram settled in to eat her newly gained cake. It seemed a little odd at how attentive Nepgear was being when it came to cleaning up Ram's cheek, being really gently with her napkin and using her hand to check to see if there was any grease or frosting left that she couldn't see, but when you're a little girl that had gone from almost crying and running away after a humiliating secret was revealed to your best friends to a little girl with your favorite flavor of cake, you're probably going to be too drained to take notice off things as quickly.

Did she mention the cake? Because there _was_ cake.

Once the cake had been finished, the girls tugged over the baskets of fruit they had all picked prior to settling down to eat. Having retrieved for herself an _entire handful of grapes, _all for herself, Ram was really starting to cheer up now. Grapes were super yummy! Her smile, which had finally started to return, began to spread from ear to ear as she plucked one grape from the rest in her hand, slowly but surely bringing it towards her mouth-

"Wha-"

_Splat!_

- when something roughly got her in her side, the surprise causing her to crush all the grapes in her hand while the one she had been trying to eat went tumbling onto the ground, probably for some lucky dogoo to find after they left. Her face and hand were now covered in grape guts, complete with grape juice, and Ram knew from experience how sticky all of that could be if she didn't clean up. Groaning, more concerned with the immediate issue of the incoming stickiness than whatever had caused it, Ram was just about to get up to go find that river they had washed all the fruit in, when something held her still.

"S-Sheesh, Ram... You have to be careful..." Oh... It was Uni. When had Uni gotten that close to her? Nepgear was still on her other side, and now Uni was on this one... When had a Ram sandwich gotten added to the menu...? And why did Uni have those towelettes? Wait, no, she wasn't going to do _that_, was she?! "H-Hey, hold still! You'll get all sticky and gross if you don't... H-Here, uh, you can have this orange. W-When you're done peeling it, I'll be all done with your face, okay?"

Knowing that that was true, Ram sighed in defeat and let Uni do what she had to. She was starting to feel frustrated that both of her friends had just treated her like a baby — and right in front of Rom no less — when they had never done anything so embarrassing before, but both times _had_ seemed like they had been done with good intentions... Hadn't they?

Rom watched, curious, as Uni joined the close pair across from her. It sort of seemed like they were all getting along better now... At least she hoped they were. It had almost looked like Uni had done what she had on purpose, like she'd _wanted_ to bump into Ram's arm, but considering how guilty Uni looked for the mess she'd made, Rom was fairly sure that that couldn't be true... She would have felt terrible if Ram didn't feel happy or comfortable with their friends anymore because of what she had said...

Oh well. Shrugging, Rom merrily stuck her fork into her own piece of cake. If nothing else, all this room she was getting on this side of the blanket meant she didn't have to worry about anyone bumping into her. She could talk to Ram later when they were alone anyway, it was obviously better to let Nepgear and Uni try to apologize for how they had reacted earlier to Ram.

That... _was_ what they were doing, wasn't it?

It wasn't until after the second time Uni did something strange (Nepgear was on her third by that point) that Ram finally started to catch on to what was going on with her friends.

And she didn't like it one single bit.

"Oh, I'm sorry Ram, I didn't realize you were there..." Nepgear smiled apologetically as she moved out of the way.

"Hey, d-don't look at me like that! You were in the way..." Uni averted her eyes as she withdrew her arm.

It seemed innocent at first, but it couldn't be innocent after so many times...

Nepgear just _happened_ to accidentally run into Ram every time she moved and got up.

Uni just _happened_ to accidentally keep bumping into Ram every time she reached for or did something.

"Oh _goodness_, Ram, I didn't see you...!"

"E-Eh?! Ram? Were you there? Hmph, don't look at _me_, your outfit is just the same color as the blanket! I-I just didn't notice you."

Maybe it _had_ been innocent at first, nothing more than reaching for the same thing at the same time... Ram hadn't even noticed it, whatever it had been. It was when the curious minds of the even more curious CPU Candidates started to forgo tact for the sake of answers that Ram finally caught on. It was like they were both curious now, both wanting to see just how being what she was made her different from her "normal" screen twin sister. Their eyes were looking hungrier and hungrier, consumed by an appetite for restricted information that only a select few people had.

They had to know...! They had to see...!

_What happened when you touched the touch screen!?_

Surprisingly, Ram was being a trooper throughout it all. Biting down hard on her lip, her cheeks burning brighter and brighter as it became more and more obvious what her two friends were after. This was so _embarrassing... _It was so _unfair_... She was just like everyone else, wasn't she? She hadn't wanted anyone to know! This kind of thing was _exactly_ why she hadn't wanted it! Now it was too late, and now... Now _everything_ was _ruined_...!

"I-I'm gonna go home first, 'kay, Rom?" Her eyes downcast, Ram tried to wiggle out of the sandwich Nepgear and Uni had forced her into. She wasn't going to let this get to her — she was a big girl and she was going to prove it by not having a tantrum (though she was going to beat up some of her plushies when she got home...) — but she wasn't going to sit here through all this teasing. "I... don't wanna- I mean, um, I think I should go."

Rom watched this all take place feeling more helpless than she ever had. She had been the one to say it, she had been the person to tell a secret that wasn't hers to tell, and now poor Ram was stuck with the consequences. She had to make this right... Somehow, she had to...

"Hey, Ram...? B-Before you do, I have to say something."

... do nothing as Uni approached Ram again...? Oh no...!

Uni had apparently also seem the expression on Ram's face, for she had finally stopped with her not-so-subtle game and opted to sit down in front of Ram, her legs folded under her knees straight on. Rom thought it was uncomfortable just _looking_ at how Uni was sitting, but apparently the CPU Candidate of Lastation was unaffected by pain! Rom finally winced after watching Uni sitting that way, but too late did she realize that that left Ram open for whatever Uni was about to try next — and Ram could only look at Uni and wonder what it was she had to say next after all that she had already done.

"I, um..." The black haired girl seemed hesitant now that she had approached Ram directly — perhaps being able to pin it on being accidental circumstances earlier had given her the confidence to tease and be mean (for that clearly was what she had been doing), but now Ram could see that she was being consumed by guilt over her cruel actions!

W-Well, it served her right!

"W-What is it?" Even so, considering how close she had been to tears, Ram couldn't take much solace in that knowledge. With that in mind, she simply gave Uni a dark look as she hurriedly wiped her eyes with the back of her arm, hoping she didn't look as weak and humiliated as this experience was making her feel. "Y-You're just gonna make fun of me, right? You wanna tease me about how weird I am, r-right? 'L-Look at Ram, she's a _touch screen_, she's not a _real_ CPU, she's j-just a _g-gimmick_'!" Blinking furiously to fight back her tears, she crossed her arms defiantly. "Go on! Say it! I know you wanna! You've wanted to this whole time! B-Both of you have!"

There it was. She had finally let it out.

Ram had always known it might happen. She didn't blame Rom for telling — she loved Rom too much to ever do that. It was because she was different that this was happening. It was because of her that she would get teased, so she couldn't let Rom feel bad either, like she was now.

She expected teasing. She expected name calling. At the very least, she expected snickers or even laughter. She had been expecting it all for a long time — it was her deepest, darkest, super embarrassingest secret. Lowee got complaints like that all the time, how their games were kiddy and gimmicky, how everything they did was "for casuals," all sorts of mean things like that — Ram hated how they treated her sister's hard work! — but... how could she _not_ worry about such things coming her way in particular with what she was...?

To her surprise, Uni didn't do any of those things. She looked stricken by guilt, but it seemed like there was

"No Ram, I-I can't. I can't make fun of you... I can't. I can't _ever_, because I... I'm..." Uni swallowed. She looked from Ram to Nepgear and then to Rom, but settled on Ram once more. This was probably going to be the one and only chance she would ever have to say this while in the company of someone who she would be able to relate to without it being weird. "I'm turning into a CPU Candidate with _two_ touch screens next gen!"

Rom and Nepgear blinked.

Ram gasped loudly.

"I... I wanted to know what it was like, since I'm scared, y-you know? I didn't know that was how it was and..." Nepgear and Rom gasped next, for now it was Uni who was starting to tear up. "W-What if people think I'm just selling out t-to compete? I... I just want to be as good as my sister, I j-just want to compete e-evenly with you guys, b-but..."

In that moment, Ram felt like she went through a miraculous, life changing transformation. She had gone from someone who was different, someone who didn't belong, to feeling like there was finally someone who understood everything she had been going through all this time.

Naturally, a heartwarming moment like this, filled with understanding, redemption, and so many other big words and emotions called for nothing less than a dramatic tearful embrace between the two CPU Candidates.

Rom smiled at the two as they let out all their emotions — Ram's pent up over a long time, Uni's having begun to build with the incoming new generation.

She knew just watching them that everything was going to be just fine.

As for Nepgear, on the other hand... The CPU Candidate could only stare. At some point, flower petals had started falling from the nearby sparkle trees, turning this into quite the fantastic scene — it was a good thing it wasn't violin bee season, or this could turn into a full blown musical number! And honestly, as far as Nepgear was concerned...?

"Umm... Am I the only one that doesn't think this was a big deal...?"

Upon hearing the comment made from the one who had gotten close to Ram _first, _Rom couldn't help but turn towards the other CPU Candidate in confusion.

"Huh...? But... If it's not..." She didn't understand. How could Nepgear mean what she was saying? Maybe she had misunderstood? "If it's not..."

"Hmmm? What is it, Rom?"

"I... I get why Uni wanted to know what it was like for Ram now..." The girl innocently tilted her head, before looking towards the purple haired girl that had started all of this. One thing just did not make sense to the young goddess at all, and now _she_ had to know something. If Uni was worried about becoming a double touch screen soon, her curiosity made sense... "But... Um... Why were _you_ so curious... Nepgear...?"

To that question, the CPU Candidate could only avert her eyes, laughing bashfully as a guilty look crossed her features — she suddenly seemed completely and utterly unable to look in the direction of the youngest CPU Candidate among them.

"O-Oh, you know, I just... wanted the excuse...?"


	5. January 31: The Truth Revealed?

A whole month had gone by without so much as a word from a single citizen. No website, no Chiper, no NepTuber, no... no _no one_ had said a single thing about it.

Ram was truly and utterly flabbergasted.

She was sure it was supposed to be her year. She was _sure_ of it! If she were to think about it, she would realize she actually didn't have any reason to be sure of it in the first place, but luckily, Ram just wasn't the type to wonder about unimportant things like that — not when she was still trying to figure out the mystery of her year. Why was no one else celebrating? What was she doing wrong? What was she missing...?

The CPU Candidate was alone at the moment, which in itself was a rarity for the girl. Rom had gone ahead to play games over in Planeptune with Nepgear and Uni for the evening, but Ram knew she was wavering inside. She knew — she just _knew_ — she was on the verge of giving up, as her twin had at some point a few days ago... She had to do something, something to make sure she made this year the best year _ever_... But what?

What could she do?

How could she make this year _truly be_ the Year of Ram?

Clambering onto her and Rom's bed, Ram stood atop their fluffy bedsheets and began systematically pulling out books from their rarely used bookshelf. Picture books and story books began tumbling onto the floor without any regard for cleanliness or the room's appearance, but Ram paid it all no mind at all. She was a goddess on a mission, and her mission was...

"Ha! I knew it was still here!"

Hidden away from where sleepy hands could reach from their bed was something that wasn't quite a book. Hidden behind where all their favorite books were, the books that they made their sister and Mina read to them, was something else. It was something boring and not interesting at all, something only worth looking at once to see the twelve pictures that decorated its pages before stuffing away to forget about rather than using. It was a gift they had taken to be polite, rather than reject and be rude and get chastised by Mina and Blanc.

What Ram triumphantly held in her hands as she jumped on her bed... was a _calendar_.

Her prize held firm in her hands, the girl hopped off of the bed and plopped herself down onto the floor. She set the calendar down in her lap and opened it up, laughing to herself at the funny picture of a dogoo trying to play a piano that went along with the first month. She would have made a great comment to go along with the picture if she weren't on an epic quest right now, but since she was, she had no time to waste. Tearing her eyes away from the picture, Ram began doing something horrible.

She began to _read_.

Even if there were words she didn't recognize, her own name would be one that she had no trouble spotting, right?

Ram was sure that this would be the case. All she had to do was flip through the calendar and find where it had her name listed, and then she could go from there. Everything would make sense once she did that, and she could _finally_ enjoy the best year ever to the fullest extent that it would allow.

There was just one problem.

No matter how many times Ram flipped through the pages, no matter how many times Ram squinted and shook the book and turned it upset down... There was something missing from the calendar that even she knew she wouldn't be able to miss if it were in there.

Ram let the calendar fall to the side as she leaned against her bed, a sour, heavy feeling settling in her chest and stomach. She felt hollow, but she wasn't sure what to do with it all. She cast a glance at the thing one last time — the dogoo dancing with the horsebird on the cover were both smiling, but she didn't feel like smiling right now. All month, she'd been happy and trying to get it to work, but... Was this right? Was this true?

"It's... It's not in there..."

Could it be... it really _was_ a mistake...?


	6. February 1: The Shocking Truth!

As Rom chewed her cereal, sleepily pouring herself some orange juice from the carton with the armored superhero decorated with oranges on it (being sure not to spill any), she found herself having a lot more on her mind this morning than she typically did. Most of the time, mornings just meant deciding what to eat and maybe flipping a coin to see who got the prize in the cereal box if they were at the end of it and had decided to share that morning...

This was not the case today. Not at all.

_This_ morning was not the same as most mornings, you see. It wasn't just that Rom was more tired than usual — for she'd had a later night than usual — and it wasn't just that she got the prize toy lock in the cereal box without having to argue for it... No, though maybe these things related to the real issue, they weren't the problem. The most noticeable thing about this morning that made it different was that Rom was eating alone. While at first glance, this at first could have simply been because she'd slept in, Rom was quite sure, even in her foggy, sleepy mind, that it was more than that.

Ram had never come to play with Nepgear and Uni the night before, and she had already been asleep when Rom had finally come home. By the time Rom had gotten up for breakfast, she'd discovered — much to her surprise — that her sister had already had her own breakfast and was off doing... well, Rom didn't know what Ram was doing, but she did know that she couldn't find Ram anywhere, and it was a little disconcerting.

She'd found a calendar on the table in their room the night before, but she hadn't paid it much mind considering how tired she had been from all of the fun things she had gotten up to with the other CPU Candidates, not to mention the flight back by herself... What would Ram be doing with a calendar? Rom could barely remember how they had even gotten it, but it was sitting out there with the silly picture on the cover just waiting for her to see it and stifle her giggles (to not wake Ram) as she got ready for bed.

Was that it? Ram wanted to look at the pictures? No, that wouldn't explain why she hadn't come to play even after everyone had been waiting for her... It wouldn't explain why she had looked so _sad_, even in her sleep... But why would a calendar have made Ram look sad...? She could feel it, just sleeping next to Ram, just looking at her the night before... Her sister had been hurting... But why? How?

The girl's eyes widened as the answer dawned on her.

"Oh...! Maybe... _Maybe_..."

Maybe it had something to do with how no one was celebrating Ram's year...? Rom had already forgotten about it by this point, but it looked as though her sister wasn't able to let it go as easily... She wondered what could have happened... Had anything happened at all? Maybe...

The girl's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a yawn — her own, to be precise. Blinking back the last remnants of her tiredness, it dawned on her that she had finished her cereal while she had been thinking. Taking her glass in both hands, she downed her orange juice before dutifully beginning the task of carrying everything to the sink or wherever else it needed to be... It was strange, not having to remind Ram to do her share (or do Ram's share for her for that matter, as the case was every so often), but it couldn't be helped.

Nodding to herself as she put the orange juice into the refrigerator, Rom set aside the lonely feelings of having breakfast alone and decided she had to fix this. For Ram, she was willing to do anything, even go on adventure by herself!

Thus, unseen by neither her older sister nor even her caretaker, and certainly not by her twin, little Rom had transformed and set off into the morning sky.

And she wouldn't return until she could make Ram feel better!

* * *

><p>"Talk to her."<p>

"Don't you think it might be better if you did...?"

"Isn't this what you're here for?"

"...! M-My goodness, that's... I-I'm not here for you to be a simple babysitter, you know..."

"I... Sorry. That was too much. I'll do it."

Sighing somewhat miserably, Blanc rose from her seat next to Mina and began approaching her youngest sister. This whole morning, now well into the afternoon, had just been a mess. She was starting to feel like it might be her fault somehow, but considering she hadn't seen Rom anywhere all day, maybe the two of them had had a fight...? ... No, that didn't make sense. Maybe Rom had just slept over at Nepgear's — it made her feel weird that the twins were starting to get more and more independent, but it... wasn't a bad weird necessarily... a nervous, warm sort of weird...

Whatever the cause of it was, all morning, Ram had been acting weird... She'd been acting a little like Rom, really. She'd been obedient, quiet, and downcast from the moment she joined Blanc and Mina for breakfast to now. She'd eaten using manners that Blanc didn't even know her sisters were capable of, she'd taken all of her dishes to the sink and even put them in the dish washer all on her own, and she'd even joined Blanc in the Basilicom's large library after breakfast. Mina had finally joined the two, Blanc reading and Ram quietly playing a game in the corner, a short while ago after finishing searching the Basilicom for Rom and not finding her... All in all, it had been strange.

When Ram was in the library, she pulled down books and asked for Blanc to read them. When Ram was in the library, she had her crayons out and colored.

She certainly didn't sit around looking glum and play a game with the volume turned off. Even _Rom_ didn't do that, for crying out loud!

Blanc stood behind Ram for a few moments, watching the girl play her game. For all intents and purposes, she... sort of... seemed to be fine. She didn't seem to be _herself_, and not in some weird way that went along with some weird scheme, but at least she wasn't curled up in a ball bawling or something annoying like that. She was even doing pretty good in the game she was playing, now that Blanc happened to notice. Without realizing it, the CPU found herself getting absorbed into what Ram was playing, forgetting why she'd even walked over there in the first place.

It was only when the double screened device was paused that Blanc was snapped back to reality — just in time too, for a question was soon posed to her that had her mind reeling.

"Sis...? How come I'm not good enough?"

The CPU blinked a few times, before she looked down towards the top of her sister's head, only to realize the girl was looking up at her with an expression that... well, it didn't make Blanc comfortable, seeing it on little Ram's face. It was passive and hurt and confused and way too many things that belonged anywhere but on one of her kid sisters — especially this one.

Fighting back the urge to look back to Mina for help, Blanc swung around her sister's side, dropping her arm around Ram's shoulders and giving the girl a stern, concerned look as she settled down next to the girl.

"Okay... Tell me. Where'd you get an idea like that?" She had to admit, she was more than a little cross at the idea — and she was _beyond_ more than ready to go swing her axe a few times at whoever had had the gall to make her sister feel like this about herself. She was already starting to get mad at herself for just sitting around just meters from Ram for hours now, now that she knew Ram had been feeling like this through all of them. "Why in Gamindustri would you think something dumb like you're not good enough? Good enough for... what, anyway?"

The CPU Candidate looked away, closing her game and stuffing it into a pocket. She looked annoyed for a moment, which would have been almost refreshing considering the circumstances, but the fact that she was probably annoyed that Blanc couldn't understand was something Blanc didn't particularly enjoy having to see before her like this...

"Anything." After a few moments of silence between the two, some of which Ram had spent trying in vain to struggle away from her sister's grasp, she had mumbled out that simple answer, looking dejectedly towards the floor as soon as she allowed it to leave her lips. "I'm not good enough for _anything_."

Blanc quirked a brow. So, she was going to have to deal with this sort of answer, was she? Still fighting the urge to groan and make Mina come over here, she gently tightened her grip on her sister (yes, that is indeed possible, do not question White Heart), something only one as experienced as White Heart could accomplish without making it too uncomfortable for the girl, before sighing.

"You and I both know that that's wrong, so don't act like it is even for a minute. You're good for..." ... coloring in her books, breaking valuable artifacts, eating that cake she had been saving, being loud when she wanted to sleep, teaming up with Rom to cause all kinds of mayhem, jumping right on top of her when it was too early in the morning and she had had a late night... "... for a lot of things."

"Hmph!" For a brief moment, it looked like Ram was back to normal. She crossed her arms — perhaps the only way she could be defiant considering the position she and Blanc were in together — and pointedly turned away. She held herself like that for a moment, and if it wasn't for the fact that she was denying her own worth, Blanc would have called it a job well done and gone back to her book right then and there. Unfortunately, the moment didn't last, and the girl began to deflate like a sad balloon that had had a small hole poked in it. "You wouldn't get it... I bet you can't think of anything I'm good for at all!"

"That's not-" Blanc could see in her minds eye other things as she spoke. A little girl climbing into bed with her when she was feeling down, a smiling face on a rainy day, cheesy pranks that lifted her spirits no matter how much she denied it, crayon pictures of three sisters and a caretaker smiling stuck to the fridge with magnets, sticky hugs after a messy meal and who could forget those rare, always bashful just-after-having-ice cream kisses- And Blanc could think of more things than even those. "Damn it Ram, that's not true!"

It was at this point that Ram found herself unable to keep listening — especially when Blanc _still_ couldn't think of anything to say to her except for saying she was wrong! She wasn't dumb! Breaking free from her sister, Ram managed to shove Blanc away from her and stand up.

"It's true! It is! It is and you can't say it's not! You're not even saying it's not anyways!" Determined not to let her sister try to trick her any more than she already had been, Ram wiped her eyes and kept speaking — her voice far too strong for what she was saying. "I got a whole _year_ and nobody cares, I don't look like you and Rom when I transform, nuh uh, I don't even look like _anybody_ when I transform! Everybody always forgets me, I'm on the bottom of all the character poll thingies when it comes to us... I'm only the youngest by a little, but... But... Not even the people who made the cute dogoo calendar me and Rom got think my year is worth anything..."

Oh... Oh for the love of...

Despite how troubled she was that her sister was hurting right before her very eyes, sniffling and wiping at her eyes and glaring in an attempt to look strong in her moment of declaring her weakness, Blanc found herself momentarily struck by something.

She _still_ thought the "Ram year" was a thing...?! And that everyone had just _forgotten_...?!

Blanc set that aside for now. She was really in for it this time, and she didn't know what the hell she could do to make this right. A quick glance behind her at the concerned Oracle watching, hesitating, told her even Mina wasn't sure. Blanc didn't blame her. At this point, Mina coming over might just make things worse — it'd probably make Ram think Blanc didn't think Ram was worth dealing with by herself or... something equally ridiculous. This really was a rotten mess, wasn't it? She wished the worst she had had to deal with was just Ram thinking it was a holiday all year instead of this.

Maybe she hadn't given Ram enough credit there after all...?

Shaking away those thoughts — she could do something about them later — Blanc stepped towards her sister and reached for her, wincing when her hand was shrugged away by the teary-eyed girl. Not one to give up that easily, Blanc knelt down in front of Ram, thankful the girl didn't just turn and run when she did this, and put her hands on her sister's shoulders. She was terrible at this kind of thing, but was she really expected to just sit around and watch this instead? She didn't think she was even capable of meeting that expectation even if she was.

"L-Listen... Seriously, chin up a minute and listen to me, okay?" Blanc offered an awkward, comforting smile to Ram as her sniffles started to subside, bit by bit, and she looked her older sister in the eye. That was a little better at least. "Good. This is important. Now listen... Don't you go repeating this to anyone, but... To me... Every year with you two... E-Every day, I mean, it's _all_ 'your'-"

"**HAPPY RAM YEAR!**"

Blanc, Ram, and Mina all simultaneously jumped in surprise at the sudden intrusion. The giant library doors had been loudly forced open, making way for the strangest quartet one could ever hope to have laid their eyes upon. Leading them was Rom, wearing some kind of bandana around her forehead and looking positively chipper for a girl that had been absent for hours. Behind her was Vert, one end of an enormous banner in her hands that was decorated with pictures of Ram and other celebratory words. In last place were Neptune and Nepgear, holding the end and middle of the banner respectively, with all sorts of party favors draped over them on top of their carrying the banner as well. To complete this surprise, all of them had somehow found and equipped outfits that gave their clothes, eyes, and even hair the same colors as Ram's when she transformed.

Needless to say, it was quite something to behold. Ram and Blanc could only stare in shock and awe at what they were witnessing. It was when Chika and Histoire, both wearing party hats, came into the library — Chika wheeling a tray of cake, Histoire hurriedly floating over to Mina to explain and apologize for coming unannounced — that the two of them snapped out of it, slowly walking to meet their fellow goddesses and candidates, their wide eyes unable to leave the magnificent sight that was the banner that required all four of them, decked out like they were all White Sister, to carry.

"W... What is..."

"How...?"

As Neptune and Vert took charge of the banner to hang it up, Nepgear approached Blanc and Ram, arm in arm with a bashful looking Rom, who seemed to be beaming at her sister. Considering how Ram had been acting all morning, if not for the fact that Rom was still being her sweet, quiet self, Blanc might have had to wonder if the two of them had somehow switched places.

"Rom came and got all of us! She told us that..." Ever the tactful one, upon noticing the red eyed girl at Blanc's side, too surprised to have realized that she hadn't cleaned herself up at all, Nepgear simply smiled at her friend and altered what she had been about to say. Clearing her throat a little, Nepgear did her best to try to act like she was hiding something, when in reality she was nervously just going with whatever she thought sounded good. "W-Well, I can't say it in front of Ram right now, since it _is_ her year, but the, um, short version is we decided to combine the individual parties we were going to have for Ram and her year all into one!"

Blanc fought back a laugh at the half-assed excuse Nepgear managed to put out, but a quick glance at Ram — momentarily wide eyed and in appreciative awe — told her that for the party that mattered, it had done the trick.

"H-Hahaha, I-I knew it couldn't be... I mean, um- Of course it was something like that! You guys just wanted to catch me off guard!" Nodding to both herself and to those watching her, Ram did her best to put on a strong front as she seemed to realize things weren't nearly as bad as she had made them out to be — she'd put too much thought into these things, that was all. She'd just overthought it and... and stuff! None of that stuff mattered now, that was for sure. Wiping her face with the back of her arm, Ram offered what she hoped was a confident grin to everyone. "Yeah, I knew it the whole time!"

"Just have fun, okay, Ram?" Nepgear smiled at her friend for a moment, before she nodded to Blanc and retreated in the direction of the Oracles — figuring they could use a little help with all that cake and that the sisters probably wanted — or needed — a moment to themselves now that everything was looking up. It had looked like they had all come in at a rather sensitive time, after all, goodness...

The three sisters of Lowee stood there awkwardly. Ram was trying to hide how badly she'd been feeling and Blanc was never good at moments like these — much as what she'd been about to say to Ram before they'd been interrupted would disprove that notion. It took Rom taking a deep breath and approaching her sister, her smile dipping somewhat to give way to concern, for the ice to finally be broken between them there.

"Are... Are you okay, Ram...?"

"Huh?! Oh! Oh, um... Y-Yeah, I'm fine, Ram. Hahaha, why wouldn't I be?" It was evident with a reaction like that that, even if she was now, Ram hadn't been as fine before Rom and the others had arrived. Blanc wasn't sure if she should say anything, either to remind Ram of how she'd been acting or to take Rom's side and be concerned, but Ram took the lead herself and continued speaking before she had the chance — preempting it by giving Rom a hug. "But... Um... thanks." With that, Ram pulled away, a bright smile on her face as she pointed towards where Nepgear had gone off towards. "Now go get our cake before Nepgear gets it!"

"Oh no... Nepgear wouldn't do that...!" Despite the words of faith in her friend, Rom quickly toddled off in the direction Nepgear had gone, either her own desire for cake or her desire to make sure Ram got some (maybe both) winning out in the end, leaving Ram and Blanc alone just like they had been before.

For a moment, they were quiet. Ram was cleaning herself up, while Blanc was surveying everything and mentally thanking Rom for pulling it all off just in the nick of time. Everyone else was off doing whatever they were doing, and Blanc was starting to realize that she'd probably need to clean her library up a few times over once everyone left — for there was no way she would let anyone else to it, _her books_ might get _hurt_ — but... it looked like it would be worth it to have to go through the stress of cleaning books page by page, looking at Ram.

And speaking of Ram-

"Sis...?" Hesitantly, just as Blanc was thinking about the girl, Ram slowly looked up at her sister. She certainly looked much better off than she had before, and that spark had returned to her eyes — the familiar spark that was always there when she proudly showed Blanc a few work of art (that was on top of an important piece of paper or within a favorite book) or shyly shared a treat that she'd normally only give to Rom. "I was wondering... What were you gonna tell me before everybody got here?"

Oh. That.

She'd been about to say something _really_...

Blanc scratched her cheek awkwardly as her sister looked up at her, tilting her head curiously, eyes full of innocent trust and unwavering love and... Crap crap crap crap _crap_, she wasn't cut out for this kind of thing after all.

"Um... Nothing important right now. I'll tell you some other time." Clearing her throat, Blanc hesitated for a moment, before smiling at her sister and ruffling her long hair — she was pretty sure it was the thing to do right now. It felt like it was, at least. She didn't mind that. "Just go on and play with Nepgear and Rom. Oh, and you'd better save me some cake, okay? Just because it's yours doesn't mean you can't share any."

That earned Blanc a bright and shining smile from her little sister.

"'Kay! I'll make sure it's a nice piece!"

With that, Ram dashed off towards her fellow Candidates, crying out for cake and other happy things as she went, leaving Blanc to her own devices at last. She considered following the girl after all, but she decided it might be better for her to have fun with her fellow like-minded, more innocent friends. Instead, Blanc scanned the library for a different pink haired pair — for there were words that needed to be exchanged.

After seeing that they had just finished hanging up the enormous banner, Blanc nodded in their direction to signal that she was heading over, before she walked over to where Vert and Neptune, still decked out in their "White Sister" outfits that they'd gotten who knew where, were standing.

"My, if it isn't the sister of the bride!" Vert teasingly remarked as Blanc joined the two of them, which earned her a pair of eyebrows shooting up in surprise and Neptune trying not to burst out laughing at her side. Waving off Blanc's concerns, Vert smiled at her fellow CPU and explained. "Neptune and I were just saying how this could be a regular wedding reception for little Ram, if only she had someone to marry! Goodness, maybe one of us _here_ should-"

"Ooookay Vert, I think the joke's done now!" Seeing the veins starting to appear on Blanc's forehead, much as she liked to poke fun at her friends, even Neptune knew now probably wasn't the time for Vert and Blanc to get into it — Vert had already been adding some things just to go at Blanc as it was, and this _was_ supposed to be for Ram, not for them to argue like they always did... Sheesh! As soon as she was sure Vert had dropped it — a smile and a shrug confirmed this — Neptune turned to Blanc, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly. "So... Blanc, I... guess she didn't forget after all, huh? Haha..."

Blanc was surprised that Neptune actually was willing to reference the fact that it was she and Vert who were responsible for a lot of this, but then, the fact that they had bothered to show up and help put this together in the first place was probably their way of owning up to that much already, wasn't it? The CPU of Lowee considered this, sighing as she surveyed her two fellow goddesses — both looking like they were her sister's sisters with how they were dressed up. They could have at least brought her one of those so she didn't stand out... Well, anyway, she still had some things to make clear to these two troublemakers.

"You know, if you two hadn't done this, I'd have had to beat the crap out of you, right? Your stupid 'Year of Ram' thing really backfired here..." Vert and Neptune both exchanged guilty looks — genuinely guilty ones, surprisingly — before looking in Ram's direction, a direction Blanc found herself drawn towards looking as well. She was happy and smiling and playing around with Nepgear and Rom, while Mina, Chika, and Histoire got to dishing out the cake. Whatever had led to that much, at least... It couldn't have been that bad. "But, well... Since you _did_ do it... Um... Thanks."

The two temporarily-pink-haired-troublemakers exchanged looks once more, this time ones of surprise, before more mischievous ones began to take those surprised looks' places.

"My my... What's this, Blanc?"

"Could it be... Since we left Noire in her cage for this chapter, _Blanc_ is being our tsundere for the day?"

Blanc could only watch in horror, looking from one pink haired CPU to the other, as each of them took one of her arms and and they spoke their next line together in unison, picking her up and dancing around with her as they did.

""That's so _cute_!""

Under most circumstances, Blanc would just have grabbed both of them, knocked their heads together, and called it a day right then and there, totally fine with leaving two goddesses unconscious in her library. It would have been perfectly acceptable — not to mention very satisfying — to take that out on them, especially after they had compared her to Noire! _Noire_ of all people!

... Today, however... With her smiling little sisters just a little ways away and a party that these two morons most certainly had a hand in putting together now under way...

At that moment, Ram caught sight of her sister's predicament and, mistakenly thinking the CPUs were all just having fun (and... maybe they were...? hell if she knew anymore...), waved at them. Seeing this, still being carried around by Vert and Neptune, the goddess dropped her head onto her chest, a wry smile on her face.

"Fine... _Fine_. I'll let it go for now..."

She could get back at these goofballs later. Ram needed this to be happy far more than she needed it to be anything else.

"But can you two put me down already!?"


	7. February 8: The Dating Dilemma

"No."

If her arms hadn't been crossed already, Ram most certainly would have crossed them to show just how displeased her older sister's response to her request made her feel right now. It hadn't been like she was asking to have a big box of candy again! Sure, that _had_ happened only a few days after they had been born, when Blanc, her new older sister, was still getting adjusted to _being_ an older sister, so Ram had actually been _given_ the candy, but that was forever ago! She and Rom had learned (the hard way) to not eat big boxes of candy all in one sitting!

It had actually only been not too long ago that the CPU Candidates had been born in the first place, and it hadn't been all that particularly long after _that_ that the goddesses had fought Arfoire in Celestia and saved Gamindustri from total annihilation and all of that good old true end-worthy fare. Naturally, to Ram, _that_ certainly seemed like more than forever enough, seeing as it was her entirely life. To Blanc, though? It was like it was just yesterday. In any case — Ram was sure that that had to be the reason she was being turned down. After all, why else would she be saying no to her plea?

"That's not fair! _You_ get to do it!" Stomping her foot down in defiance, the CPU Candidate hardened her gaze to match the steely steel of the toughest iron. Her accusation seemed to have caught Blanc off guard, for the CPU looked quite surprised by the suggestion of Ram's. Aha! So Blanc thought Ram didn't know! Well Ram was smarter than that! "It's true! When you made her babysit us a few days ago, Nepgear's sister said so! She said that's what you were doing, and that's why me and Rom couldn't come with you when you and Financier went to-"

"I said _no_!" Normally, Ram would run away and yell that Blanc was being a big old meanie at this point — for this was the point where Blanc had stood up and raised her voice — but she was learning more and more things with every day. One thing she had learned was that if her sister got like this, _sometimes_ it meant that whoever she was talking to was getting somewhere! She just hoped the somewhere she was getting wasn't the other end of a hammer. "Can't you just play with your toys or something else? Why does it have to be _that_?"

Considering the question for a moment, Ram tilted her head, scrunching her face as she tried to come up with an answer. It was hard for her, because, really, the thing was...

Seeing Ram's lack of an instantaneous reply as a sign of her oncoming victory, Blanc seemed to calm somewhat. She dropped back into her seat and looked at her sister, her expression softening — albeit only just a little. She was still learning herself, after all. She had to be careful not to be _too_ hard on her sisters, even if this particular happened to be out of her mind this time.

"I'm sure you can do a lot of other things that are just as fun. You shouldn't be thinking about this one." Nodding to herself more than her sister, who still seemed to be struggling with finding a response, Blanc glanced out the window. Ram should be playing with the other Candidates, who were visiting in Lowee today, and Financier would be back with food for dinner for them all soon... She'd have to talk to her later, about... certain things, but that was another matter. "Just go on and play and forget this... _idea_ of yours."

Even though she hadn't figured out a good response yet, she really didn't like the way her sister was talking to her. Banging her fist against her side, Ram stood her ground.

"I just wanna go on a date with Rom! What's the big deal?!"

Just hearing the idea again made Blanc wince. She couldn't get used to hearing it.

She had not signed up for this. She had _not_ signed up for anything _like_ having to deal with this — and she had definitely not signed up for little sisters that did not see the obvious issues with wanting what this one was so adamant in requesting.

The goddess pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes, taking a deep, deep breath and ignoring the frustrated noises Ram was making before her. She wasn't going to yell. She could do this. If anyone was going to win the award for worst older sister in Gamindustri, it sure as hell wasn't going to be her. All she had to do was just... stop this... whatever it was... from going any further than it needed to. Which was not at all.

Ram looked like she was still waiting for an answer too. This didn't bode well for her, but what the hell did she expect? It wasn't like Blanc could just tell her! She was... Rom was... Did she _really_ have to explain this...!?

"That's not... You're not being fair!" Once again, Ram was starting down this line of reasoning. Apparently she didn't have a good reason after all. Blanc was starting to feel like maybe this wouldn't be that hard after all. That was, right up until Ram decided she wasn't done talking yet after all. Apparently there _was_ a reason — it was just... "I love Rom!"

Eyes going wide in alarm, shock more likely, Blanc choked. Coughing on her own surprise, she nearly fell over hearing such a bold declaration — from her little sister no less! Even she hadn't managed... Well, that was besides the point...! W-Was this really happening...?! Surely, surely it was just a mistake — or a nightmare! What in the world could she say to _that_?

Wait a minute... It didn't matter what she said. She was the one in charge here! She was the big sister! Right, how could she have forgotten something so important? All she had to do was straighten up, look Ram in the eye, and just tell her like it is. Blanc was the boss. No one was _her_ boss, but she was sure Ram's boss. That... That was all that mattered here. She should have just started with this...!

"Look." Blanc stood up straight and straightened her clothes. She wasn't going to look disheveled or out of focus when she said it. It would be said and that would be final. There would be no ifs, ands, or buts about it. "Didn't you hear me before? I said no. We're not having this conversation and that's _final_. You can't go on a date with Rom and that's the end of it."

"Why _not_?!"

Apparently, while there were not ifs, ands, or buts about it, Ram still had the ever audacious "why" up her sleeve. Kids and their whys...

Blanc sighed. It looked like putting on the big goddess pants hadn't really done much of anything, and she was right back in the exasperating position she had been in a moment before. But... Now what? With Ram looking at her so defiantly, it looked like she wouldn't be able to stop this unless she really did have a "reason" for saying it, but... How could she say _that_ to her kid sister? No, Ram didn't need to worry about that kind of thing right now... So... What else could she do? If just being bossy wasn't good enough, then...

... _Of course_...!

"I'll... I'll tell you when you're older." Blanc knew it was the lamest excuse in the book, as half-assed as it got, but hell, maybe if she was lucky, Ram would figure it out for herself by then and she wouldn't even have to do anything about it by the time "older" came around. Wouldn't that be just _swell_? It would certainly suit _her_ just fine, that was for sure. "Can't you wait until then? Why do you want to go on a d-d... a daa... one of _those_ with your _sister_ right now anyway?"

Hearing the tried and true easy way out response, Ram just scowled. It was so _typical_ for a grown up to say that. Her sister was _clearly_ looking down on her, and she wouldn't stand for that. It wasn't fair at all! It was time for her to pull out her trump card — the weapon she had saved just for this moment, the moment she _knew_ would come. The moment that Blanc tried to say that she wasn't old enough — as if!

"You're just avoiding talking about it! If I can't, how come Nepgear gets to!?" Stomping her foot on the ground, Ram pointed at Blanc with all the accusatory power of the world's greatest lawyers. Even though this dimension's focus on such references was rather minimal compared to others, if there was ever a time for heroic theme music to start playing to show that the tables had turned, now would be it! "If she gets to, then I should get to too! If she and Uni can go on dates, then me and Rom can too!"

Oh, so _that_ was what started this? Blanc should have figured from the start that it was something simple like this. This _was_ just Ram after all... But in that case, there really _was_ an easy solution to all of the frustrated CPU's problems right there, now wasn't there. In other words? It seemed the theme music was only playing for Ram — for Blanc, it was the same old Lowee background music that usually played.

"When you're as old as Nepgear is, you can go on a date too." It was an even easier response than telling Ram that she could wait for when she was older. In fact, she probably should have just started with something like this from the beginning. Shaking her head, she realized that she could probably even get Ram to agree to end this right this second if she acted like _she_ was the one giving in. Never let it be said about _this_ CPU that she wasn't learning how to deal with these little hellions. "Tell you what, you can go on as _many_ dates with Rom as you want once you're as old as Nepgear. How does that sound?"

Ram hesitated for a moment. She seemed to be genuinely considering the proposal. Blanc fought back the urge to smile — who said kids weren't easy? ... Well, she did, but that was besides the point.

"You..." Ram swallowed. She looked like she was still ready to fight this, but after another few moments of thinking about it, she lowered her arms and sighed, looking up to her sister with eyes filled with uncertainty. "Promise? You won't change your mind and say you didn't mean it? If you do that, I'll never ever ever ever _ever_ forgive-"

"I get it!" Rolling her eyes, Blanc held up her hands to quiet down the CPU Candidate. She was sure the kid would forget it all in a week anyway — certainly it would be forgotten by the time her promise would be relevant. "I promise that I won't change my mind no matter what and you can do all of that stuff. Okay? Can we let this go now?"

With that done, Blanc expected a disappointed little sister. An accepting one, but an accepting one that would love her forever because she had said she would never ever ever ever change her mind because she'd never ever ever be forgiven and all of that. She'd go on her way and... Hold on one plumping minute. Why was Ram grinning at her like that? The hell?!

"What? What's with the look?"

Ram held up a single finger and waved it back and forth, as if she was about to reveal the cornerstone to her whole case. Her background music had just taken a far more dramatic and upbeat turn, but clearly, Blanc still had her speakers on mute!

"You said we could go on a date as soon as we're as old as Nepgear is now, right?" The girl looked like a regular devil right now, all set to seal the deal that would take her soul away, but Blanc still didn't know what she was getting at. After all, hadn't she just... "And you _promised_ that you wouldn't ever ever ever _ever_ change your mind, riiiiight?"

Now Blanc was just getting angry. What the hell was going on here?! What was Ram so happy about?!

"Yeah, right, now what's with the-"

"You just said me and Rom could go on a date _tomorrow_!"

The CPU froze.

She went over the conversation that had just taken place, looking for any loophole that she could have possibly missed that Ram might have somehow latched onto. She found none. She was positive that there wasn't one. She couldn't find a single one! What was going on? What was she missing? What was happening? She... She was being tricked, that had to be it. There was no other possible explanation for this — Ram had lost and she was trying to trick Blanc into getting her way!

"No I didn't!" The CPU didn't sound as confident as she should probably have tried to, but Ram just looked so damn _confident_ that even she, Ram's older sister, was taken aback. "I told you that as soon as you're as old as Nepgear, you can go! Nepgear's much older than you are now, look at her! You won't be as old as her for at _least_..."

Ram's grin widened as her sister trailed off. Blanc had finally started to use her brain — she had been thinking about the Candidates' age in terms of their appearance, in terms of how they would act sometimes, in terms of... In terms of things _other_ than their age, but the truth was... The truth of it all was that...

"... Oh."

_Shit_.

The twins had been born the day after Nepgear and Uni had been born. Not even a full day later either. It had been the next morning.

At most, there really was only one day between them.

And Blanc had just agreed to let them... She had just promised that she'd never ever ever ever _ever_...

"So? We can go on a date tomorrow, right, Sis? Right?"

That... That twerp had _played her_!

"Just... Just get out of here... If you regret it, it's not on me..."

... And she'd done a damn good job of it too...

"'Kaaaay! Bye Sis!"

... but hell, if Ram had pulled that on her over anything else, literally _anything_ else...

"... Damn it, I think I'm actually proud of the kid."

* * *

><p>"It's settled! Me and Rom are going on a date tomorrow!"<p>

Eager to bask in the glory of her victory, Ram gave her waiting sister a high five as she left Blanc's office as Nepgear and Uni looked on at her in awe. Ram was on top today as far as the Candidates were concerned, that was for sure. She was all set for the fun things she and Rom would do tomorrow, but Uni and Nepgear still couldn't believe it had been so easy for her. That Ram couldn't be underestimated, that was for sure...

"R-Really? _Tomorrow_...?" Uni sighed in disappointment, dropping her shoulders as she cast a look over her shoulder while she and Nepgear started down the hallway, watching the two twins celebrate with a mild about of envy about her person as she did. After all, the thing in her case was... "Awww... And Sis said _I_ had to wait until I was at least _80_ before I could go on one... I can't believe this. It's not like _she_ would wait..."

"Eh? Really? I didn't have to wait at all." Surprised at Uni's admission now that Ram had come back with her results, Nepgear looked away from the twins they had left behind them and over at Uni as she made the most surprising statement of the afternoon. "I've been on plenty of dates."

"Wh-Wh-What do you mean you 'didn't have to wait'...?!" Uni couldn't restrain herself now. Was Nepgear saying... She couldn't _possibly_... Could she? "You haven't... You haven't _already_... Have you? You're kidding me..."

Nepgear just grinned.

"Goodness, I sure have! Didn't I just say so?" Enjoying the surprise her friend was showing at how much further she had gotten, Nepgear couldn't help but puff her chest out in pride. She was really growing up. As she began recounting her dates to Uni, Nepgear couldn't help but smile all the more at the fond memories. They were some of the best she'd ever had... "They were all so much fun... Sis is the best person to go on dates with... I carry her shopping bags for her, I get to buy her dinner... I'm taking her to the movies this weekend too! Then I'll buy her games and some new clothes afterwards!"

Uni blinked.

Nepgear continued to beam.

Uni blinked again.

Nepgear showed no sign of cracking up and revealing she was joking.

It was just...

Those didn't _sound_ like...

But Nepgear sure seemed to _think_ they were...

Uni looked away, swallowing nervously. Sh... Should she say anything...?

As Uni continued down the hall with Nepgear, facing the most difficult challenge of her young life yet, the two twins watched them go with a mixture of curiosity and amusement. _They_ didn't have to worry about any of that silly stuff, no ma'am, not now that Ram had taken care of everything for them. It did raise the question, though...

"Ram..." Hesitantly, Rom looked over to her sister after a few moments. She hadn't wanted to be rude, but it seemed like it would be impossible to not ask now that this was really happening. With the two of them alone and the subject still fresh, maybe now would be the best time to ask? At least... At least Ram would... Hopefully Ram wouldn't be insulted, but Rom just had to ask... "Um..."

"Huh?" Tilting her head, Ram glanced to her side. Rom seemed worried about something... But what? Everything was fine now! "What is it, Rom?"

All eyes — well, Ram's eyes anyway — now on her, Rom knew it was make or break time. She took a deep breath and readied herself, for once she asked Ram this question, there was no _un_asking Ram this question.

Well... Here goes nothing...!

"W... What do we actually... _do_ on a date...?"

The still smiling Ram blinked.

She hadn't expected that.

After a moment of consideration, her smile widened all the more.

This was the easiest question she had been asked all day.

"Beats me!"


	8. February 14: High School Usual

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tap tap tap tap tap.

_Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap._

_Taptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptap-_

"Ram...? Is everything okay...?"

With a loud snap, the pencil that the student council member had been furiously tapping on the desk before her was broken into two pieces. The long haired girl growled, looking up in frustration to see who had interrupted her lunch break. It wasn't like she had been accomplishing anything, but she had a _lot_ on her mind, and she _hated_ when...

"... Oh..."

Upon seeing who it was, her expression softened somewhat, but that did nothing for her broken pencil.

It was Ram's twin sister, Rom, that had come to her sister during lunch period. When she was stressed out, it was habit for Ram to find an escape in the student council room, and ever the insightful one when it came to her sister's feelings, it appeared as though Rom had hunted her down to check on her. If it was Rom... Ram _supposed_ she could take a break.

"Y-Yeah, everything's fine. I just wanted to do my homework early so I wouldn't have to do it after school today." Brushing off her sister's concern, Ram began cleaning up to make room for their lunches — hers was stowed away in her bag and Rom was holding hers in her hand. The math worksheet on the table, meanwhile, had been solved as far as Ram writing her name on the top of it, but thankfully, Rom knew better than to point that out. "There isn't a meeting today, so I'm going to go home early... You've got your club today, right?"

The older of the two twins seemed pensive for a moment, sitting down across from her sister as the girl pulled out her lunch without so much as a single word, before she finally nodded in response to the question.

"I do..." Rom hesitated. Something was definitely bothering Ram, but she wasn't sure if she should press the matter. It wasn't that she wasn't concerned, but considering what she had seen the night before... She had a pretty good idea what it was about. Perhaps if she tiptoed around it, Ram would say something herself? "Do you want to come watch...? I know you don't like being home alone for that long, so..."

"H-Huh?" For some reason, Ram looked abnormally surprised by Rom's offer, even though she had sat in on the activities of the art club (and even taken part herself) plenty of times before when she hadn't had anything better to do and hadn't wanted to go home. "H-Hmph! I'm running for student council president next year! I... I can be home alone by myself, you know... Sheesh, Rom, don't say stuff like that..."

Seeing this, Rom remained quiet, choosing to absorb Ram's answer in silence as she started eating her lunch. With Rom not responding, Ram, looking still... very strange, chose to do the same. For a few moments, they sat and ate their lunches, a calm appreciated by the oddly timid looking Ram, but the fact that her sister still hadn't made a grab for anything from her lunch box was all the more suspicious to Rom.

Of course, Rom actually had a pretty good idea when she had come in what Ram might have been up to, and after seeing this, she was sure now...

Ram actually planned on going somewhere after school, didn't she? That was why she didn't have any worries about being home alone like she normally did — she might even be staying on the school grounds.

It was hard, but Rom managed not to smile at her sister. Rom had a fairly good idea what that plan was too, considering what she had seen Ram trying in vain to do in the kitchen the night prior, not to mention what _today_ was...

Finally giving in to the urge to smile, the second year high school student crossed one hand over the other as she placed them on the table in front of her lunch box. It was her quiet way to get Ram's attention. And as soon as she had it?

"So, um... Ram... Does this mean you're finally going to confess to Peashy...?"

_Snap_.

There went the four halves of Ram's chopsticks rolling onto the table. The girl who had just been holding the once whole chopsticks was frozen in place, eyes wide in disbelief. Her mouth was slowly moving up and down, some sort of strangled noise struggling to escape from her throat as her cheeks began to darken in color, slowly getting redder and redder, her eyes starting to water as though she was moments from bursting into-

"Huuuuh? Me confess to _her_? _That_ airhead?" And then, as quickly as it had come, the brief moment of vulnerability had passed, and Ram was brushing the idea off as though it was as ludicrous as the idea of their sister turning around one day and telling them that she was a goddess of some foreign land and had to go back and make video games for her waiting people. She had already pulled out new chopsticks and resumed eating as though nothing had happened, pointing to Rom with them and a mouth full of food. "Seriously, Rom, I know you're the best person the art club will ever have, but save that crazy imagination for your canvas, okay? Sheesh..."

Her older sister just giggled. Ram could be really sweet when she was trying to be tough.

"Okay, okay, I don't know what I was thinking..." Rom shook her head, still tickled pink at her sister's antics. She supposed she still had one job left as the "older" sister now that she had been proven right. "But Ram?"

"Hmm?" The brunette glanced up from her food. "What's up, Rom?"

Rom smiled.

"Good luck."

"Huuuh? I just _said_..."

"I know."

"... Oh... Well..." A beat. "Thanks... I guess."

* * *

><p>Despite it still being the middle of the school day, Ram was doing errands. It was a normal thing for her to be doing — she wanted to be student council president next year, after all, and that meant doing things like this, right? — and this was a simple enough task. She just had to take some stuff down from the third floor to her old classroom. It was simple, and it let her think — for today, unlike most days, Ram had a lot to think about.<p>

For starters... Rom couldn't possibly have seen her making chocolate last night, could she? She had been positive no one else had been awake, and she'd kept the lights low just to be extra careful. It... It wasn't like she cared if Rom knew, it was just...

... it was just what?

Ram sighed. Thinking about that was just going to give her a headache.

As she approached the classroom she had been told to deliver the various items she held in her arms to, Ram wondered if it was normal for teachers to come to school in gaudy pink suits like Mr. Anonydeath did. This was the only school she had ever known, and he had always taught there, so at least to her, it _seemed_ normal enough, even though Uni's older sister would always say she hated being in his classes for some reason. Ram never had had any problems, though she was a second year now and he taught first years mostly, so she only saw him when she did things for the student council or other teachers like she was right now.

It was technically supposed to be her study period, but since she actually _had_ ended up finishing all her homework during lunch, she had asked if there was anything she could do instead rather than waste her time sitting quietly in the class like a little kid in time out. (Rom had elbowed her from the next seat over before she had actually finished saying it, but she was pretty sure their teacher had figured it out.) Having volunteered to be the teacher's gopher for the period, now Ram found herself with an arm full of folders and papers, down on the first year's floor again.

All in all, despite the odd conversation she had had with her sister and off mood she'd been in all morning, things were finally returning to normal — at least they had been up to now, anyway. It was just as she arrived at the door to Mr. Anonydeath's classroom and it occurred to her she'd have no way to open the door on her own with all that she was carrying that the world decided she'd had enough of a break. Her break's end began in the form of a conversation she overheard from behind the door.

"Oh, sweetie? Could you see if your little friend is here with those papers I called the office for yet?"

"Dad!"

"Sweetie _pie_?"

"_Daaaaad_!"

She should have seen it coming. She had been close enough to the door to hear a conversation going on inside the classroom. She had no right to have not seen it coming, yet she didn't.

Frozen in place for the second time in barely as many hours, Ram could only freeze in place as what she would later realize had been inevitable happened without her doing a single thing about it.

She saw a figure approaching the door. The door's glass was obscure, so that Ram could only make out that someone was coming. They were probably looking behind them, perhaps at the teacher, for they made no effort to stop moving despite the fact that someone was standing right outside the door. The door handle began to turn, slowly but surely, and then...

"Heeeey, Raaaaaam, are you here yeeeee-"

"W-Wai-"

Realizing too late that she needed to move, Ram found herself — and everything she had been holding — getting knocked to the floor as the captain of Gamindustri High's boxing club (to the envy of every other sports team) pushed the door open with all the reckless abandon that one would expect from the blonde girl, leaving Ram helpless on the ground, papers strewn everywhere and folders now empty of their important contents.

The blue eyed blonde that opened the door blinked down at the scene she found before her, while a "My oh my~" could be heard from the man in the pink suit that had requested her to check whether or not her friend had gotten there yet in the first place. As it turned out... it looked like she had. The girl on the floor was rubbing her back, muttering something under her breath, clearly annoyed, while the girl that had opened the door was looking down at the other girl, confusion starting to be overridden by the understanding that she might have done something wrong. Realizing she was being stared at, the girl on the floor felt even more aggravated and looked up to speak her mind, but strangely, was halted.

For a brief moment, two pairs of blue eyes were locked. It was only for a second, but it was as poignant a second as a second could be. The two girls stared at each other, as if frozen in time... but then, just as quickly as it had all started-

"Jeez... _Look_ what you did _this _time...! The boxing captain shouldn't be knocking people over all the time... The school will get a reputation..." Brushing off her skirt, the student council member rose to her feet, eyes narrowed into a harsh glare at the blonde girl before her. She grabbed her bag, which had fallen from her shoulder in the fall, but kept her glare as steely as always. While the girl simply offered a sheepish, guilty grin in response, perhaps readying an apology, Ram didn't particularly care at that moment — and she was quicker to the draw as well. "Hmph... Well, whatever! I did my job. Here's what Mr. Anonydeath asked for. Make sure he gets it all."

After motioning to everything around her on the floor to indicate that she was done delivering the papers now that they were within Peashy's range of picking it all up herself, without so much as another word, Ram crossed her arms and stormed down the hall towards the stairs. She could hear whispers of "ice queen" and even worse than that coming from the classroom, and while Peashy wasn't taking part in them, the brunette was sure she would join in on it all as soon as she returned to her desk.

Her expression softening, taking a turn for a far more passive one, Ram stopped as she turned the corner to the staircase. She gently raised a hand to brush her fingertips against the railing, looking at the landing between the first and second floor. Part of her wanted to turn around and go back to the classroom, but that would just make her look like a baby. She had been wrong, she knew it, but now she was stuck.

Sighing, the girl sat down on the bottom step, leaning back to look towards the window on the landing up above.

"... Now look what _I_ did..."

* * *

><p><em>It was the first day of the new school year. Ram's chest was swelling with anticipation at the thought of it as she entered the building, swarms of students around her as she did. First, second, and third years all were alongside her, entering for the first time. The third years looked most familiar with things, and so they were pretty laid back — Ram caught sight of Nepgear and Uni chatting happily a little ways ahead of where she and Rom were, seemingly having no care in the world — while most of the first years looked like they were so scared their pants were gonna run away at any moment!<br>_

_Ram, though? Ram was ready. She had her twin sister at her side, she had a year of experience on her, and she was going to show this whole school and everyone in it just what she could do._

_Some might say the girl had developed certain complexes about some things in her younger years, particularly her first year at high school, while others who had known her would simply say that she was just being herself. She hated losing and she hated feeling like she was behind... And... Well, whatever the case was, it was a fresh start for Ram, and-_

_"Bwah!"_

_"Gwah!?"_

_-and a first year had just crashed into her?!_

_Rather than falling to the floor, as would be expected of such a situation, whoever the perpetrator was had swiftly grabbed her wrist and somehow managed to keep her steady and upright. It was a good thing, too, for Rom looked as though she had been ready to dive to the ground to catch Ram if need be — luckily, that seemed to be unnecessary now. _

_"Sorry...! I knock people over a lot, hehe..." Scratching her cheek, an awkward grin on her face, the girl gave Ram an odd apology like that — was she clumsy or was she violent that she knocked people over a lot? — before she blinked in surprise as she got a better look at the girl she had crashed into so abruptly. "Hey... Wait, aren't you Ram?" The blonde girl looked to Ram's side for confirmation, her eyes lighting up as she saw Rom — as if seeing a double of Ram confirmed it. "And you're Rom!"  
><em>

_Ram didn't need that long to recognize the person that had nearly knocked her down. Instinctively, she had already known — it had happened at least a dozen times before, at least before she'd graduated middle school and started at this high school anyway, leaving this now first year high schooler behind... Oh, she knew exactly who this girl was alright...  
><em>

_In middle school, at first it had been all five of them. Nepgear, Uni, Rom, this girl, and herself. Third years, second years, and the lone first year — and now it was that way again, it looked like. _

_They had all been pretty good friends, and it had done wonders for the twins not being the youngest members of their ragtag bunch anymore. When Nepgear and Uni had graduated ahead of them, the three girls had defaulted to hanging out with each other, but after Rom and she had graduated, it had switched back to Nepgear and Uni... Though for Ram, it wasn't even that much. Middle school had been fun, but as she'd grown and started getting used to high school, she'd toughened up quite a bit. _

_She'd come to hate how far away she was from her older childhood friends. She hated how she had struggled with things in her first year they had been able to accomplish with ease — how even Rom had been ahead of her! And thus, even though she had been a fun loving girl in her middle school and younger years, if a bit rambunctious and... _occasionally_ spoiled, after the wake up call that was her first year of high school, she'd become quite the responsible young woman in quite a few ways.  
><em>

_But Peashy... Peashy was anything but responsible. Ram knew it well. Some of her best memories spoke to how well she knew it.  
><em>

_With all this in mind, Ram could only narrow her eyes and yank her arm out of her old friend's grasp, much to the surprise of both her old friend as well as her sister, who had just been about to return Peashy's greeting._

_Peashy was total delinquent material. The last kind of person she could be hanging around with.  
><em>

_Ram struggled with her schoolwork. Ram still didn't have the popularity she knew she would need if she wanted to become student council president next year. Ram wanted to be as good as Nepgear and Uni were...! As good as _Rom_ was! She wanted their older sister to be proud of her!_

_So she couldn't get distracted._

_"Ram?" "Ram...?"_

_Ignoring them, Ram just strode away, her destination the place it had been from the start of this day: The staircase to the second floor. _

_Her sights were really set on the student council room, after all, but she had to start with her classroom first._

_"R-Ram, um..." Rom had caught up with her quickly enough. The crowd had dissipated a fair amount, but not enough so that her twin wasn't able to find her place at Ram's side. Ram didn't seem to want to talk about it, but considering they had barely seen Peashy in the past year, Rom wanted to talk about it anyway — she wanted to be able to enjoy this year with everyone together, not... "Wasn't that a little rude...? It's been a long time since we've gotten to see Peashy..."_

_"Hmph. I don't know what you mean." Shrugging dismissively, Ram began heading up the stairs to the second floor. She had been in the zone, now she had been ripped violently out of it and thrust onto a playground after the sun had gone down when she should have gone home hours ago, into a living room when she had managed to steal a copy of a game she was too young for, towards a grade school track where two girls had raced laps around everyone else, back to a time when she hadn't been so concerned about appearances and the future and... "Darn it..."_

_Shaking her head as she reached the top of the landing, Ram turned to make her way up to the second floor. She had to be in her seat on time. She wanted to look reliable- N-No, that wasn't right, she wanted to _be_ reliable, not just look it...! Like Rom and Blanc and...  
><em>

_"Heeeeeey! Raaaam! Roooom! Wanna come over and play tonight?" It was not to be — for there, at the bottom of the staircase, was that insufferable blonde, grinning and waving. All eyes went from her, the first year that no one knew, to the twin second years, the twins who had been something of the art club's idols in their first years — one of whom had made it known at the end of last year that she intended to take the student council's head for her own. For this kind of unknown person to be addressing _those_ twins in _this_ way... It was unthinkable! "Oh, I know, we can even get cake and pudding! Lots of it!"  
><em>

_Ram's first reaction involved her heart skipping a beat and her cheeks turning scarlet at the invitation._

_Ram's _second_ reaction, however, involved her feet skipping about a dozen stairs and her cheeks having become red with aggravation._

_Face to face with the younger girl — who she noted with annoyance had somehow managed to get taller _and..._ well, "bigger" than Ram since their last meeting — Ram could only glare with gritted teeth at the clueless expression on Peashy's face. Did she have any idea what she was saying? What she was doing in front of all these people? Ram needed them to vote for her, for them to believe in her! They couldn't think she... she just went around pigging out with random first year students...! No matter how much fun it would be!  
><em>

_"Wow..." Seemingly unaware of the emotions radiating off of the brunette before her, Peashy could only look from the stairs to Ram with an expression of admiration. After all, she hadn't seen a jump like that since they had competed against each other in their previous school's big festival... That had been so much fun...! "Ram, that jump was so _cool_! I was worried you weren't going to be able to keep up with me, but your legs are more amazing than ever!"_

_The people around them gasped. Ram froze in place, her eyes going wide and her mouth falling open. It felt like her hair was standing on end, like an electric current had run through her body. She could feel all eyes on her and Peashy right then. She wasn't flustered or even embarrassed — no no no, those were the reactions of the common tsundere in this situation. Scientists would later call the beast standing before Peashy something far more menacing... This was no tsundere. This... This was the legendary tsunde_ram_._

_The girl frozen finally managed to unfreeze. Her lip twitched, looking like it was on the brink of a smile — not at all a good sort of smile, however. Second years that had yet to climb the stairs remembered that almost smile. It was the stuff of legends. It was a look that had become known to many as the last thing that the bumbling old P.E. teacher, Mr. Trick, had seen right after he accidentally touched Ram's sister's behind during a class the previous year. And it was... _

_... followed by Ram hissing a quick "**No**." to Peashy and then turning around and storming up the stairs in a huff, positively_ fuming _that she had been embarrassed like that. Though this was a surprising development, it did give the new girl some infamy of sorts, and she soon began to develop her own circle of friends as she grew accustomed to high school life — though she never did stop trying to get back to her old one, which, save for one stubborn brunette, was always more than happy to let her join in their fun.  
><em>

_As for that day, though... Well... Later that day, four people would be knocked unconscious during an abnormally violent game of volleyball. For some reason, the only comment that the new P.E. teacher, Miss Iris, had to offer was that she was disappointed it hadn't hit five before the period had ended._

* * *

><p>The high schooler sighed at the memories, scowling as she recalled how she had acted. It wasn't totally her fault, was it?<p>

"If I had just said yes to her back then, I wonder..." Ram pursed her lips. She had often gone over to Peashy's place when she was younger, but now, she hadn't been there... well... since she was younger. Even Rom had gone on without her, but she stubbornly refused. She still saw Peashy when she was elsewhere and the others invited her, but she always refused to go to Peashy's house. "No, it would have meant anything. I'd probably have ended up in the boxing club instead of the student council, and I'd be a thug or something...!"

No... Rom knew that was wrong. After all, Peashy hadn't ended up a delinquent at all. Peashy had even said she thought it was great that Ram was aiming for such a high position ("You'll be like the empress, or... or a goddess...! You'll be our school's goddess!") and had never shown any interest in stopping Ram from pursuing it... If anything, Ram's bluntness was doing worse for her than Peashy ever word have. She was direct and she wore (most of) her feelings on her sleeve, and no matter how much she wanted to play, she knew if she did, she would lag behind... And while she was certainly much farther in her studies than she had been the year before, as far as getting along with people went, outside of her closest friends, that... was another story.

She was off putting and she was rude... Well, that was always sort of true, but it was worse now, wasn't it? Look at what she'd just done a little while ago. She would have never done that before... well, maybe she would have done it when she was a kid, but she wouldn't have done it with such... apathy, such harshness.

She was direct and to the point and, at times, she was known for being notoriously harsh. While she had been struggling in her first year, always behind and always flailing about, where every other day felt like it would be the day that she finally got so far behind she would break down and be lost forever... Now she was always ahead, never flailing about, and as know it all as they came. At first, people she had been friendly with in her first year would compliment her and even come to her for help with schoolwork, but now it was only Rom...

She sighed once more, her face souring.

"So what if she's not a 'delinquent'?"

That didn't make her perfect. Who said Peashy was perfect anyway?

She broke things on a regular basis, it was the student council (usually Ram) that always had to come in and fix them. She got into fights with actual delinquents without abandon, and while most students loved her for it, it was the student council (usually Ram) that ended up cleaning what resulted of those scuffles while the parties involved were given their punishments. She was terrible with more subjects than she was good with them and ended up in study groups that were led by older students wanting to refresh their memories or make a good impression on younger students (often Ram), forcing Ram to spend more time with her than she ever wanted to... But worst of all, she was a glutton that ate an obscene amount of food, and her appetite for sweets was well known, which meant that usually, by the time the student council finished their meetings, her "fans" would have raided the school store to give her all the good stuff again, meaning the members of the student council that had wanted those sweets for themselves (only ever Ram) never got them!

Her "fans" really were the worst too... All they ever talked about was her chest or how good she was at punching things. What kind of reasons were those to like someone? Of all the things that made Peashy Peashy, those were probably two of the most _annoying_ ones! At least people could _try_ to compliment her laugh or her eyes or her hair or her determination or her other skills _besides_ the destructive ones — in other words, _normal_ things like that! But no, oh no, it was always "her boobs look like they grew again!" or "look at that tree she broke!" — a tree that would fall on top of something that Ram and the student council would have to deal with, probably! It was so infuriating listening to those people! Why didn't anyone else see it?

She groaned. At least it wasn't another sigh.

"People sure are stupid..." Ram muttered to herself. Why was she even thinking about Peashy and her stupid fans? Most of them were probably the gossipy types that liked to talk about her anyway...

Well what did _they_ know?

Obviously not much.

She glanced to her side. Her bag was there, and in it... Still waiting to be delivered, even though all while she had been making it, she had been questioning whether or not she even _would_ deliver it...

Well... What did_ she_ know, for that matter?

Why had she wasted the time doing that?

It wasn't like Peashy would accept it... Honestly, it wasn't like she should even give it in the first place. Things had changed too much now. She was trying to change herself — and in many ways, she _had_ changed! — but Peashy was still just Peashy. The little blonde loudmouth with more power than she knew what to do with that knocked people over and never knew when to take no for an answer. Peashy still knew how to have fun, whereas Ram... It was like she'd started to forget at some point. Maybe if she really _was_ a goddess like Peashy joked about her trying to be, it wouldn't be so hard, but she was just a regular high school girl! Math was hard enough, but she had to make it easy, and...

It was just...

Well...

As she gazed out the window, she couldn't help but think... Looking back to that day, even if Peashy frustrated her to no end every single day... She really wished she had said "yes" instead of "no."

* * *

><p>The school day ended without further incident. Ram walked Rom to the art club's clubroom, like she did every day, even on days she had to go to the student council room. She made sure Rom had all her paint and everything else she needed just in case Rom had forgotten, torn between being teasing and nagging and wanting to stay longer. She briefly said hello to club members that had gotten there early — people she had gotten to know fairly well when she had been a member — before she bid them all farewell and set off.<p>

It wasn't as though she _had_ to leave the school's campus just because there wasn't student council today. She could visit any number of the clubs, she could go to the library, or she could just mess around so long as she didn't break any rules. In the beginning of her first year, she had hidden herself away with Rom on more than one rainy day when there wasn't art club and done just that. It had been fun.

Smiling softly to herself at the memory, Ram took a deep breath in, letting it out slowly as she looked into the empty hallway before her. It led to the back of the school, where all the buildings where the more physical-oriented clubs — including the boxing club — were likely having their activities in a little while.

If nothing else... She knew she owed Peashy an apology. Even if she couldn't manage one for everything she'd done up to now, she didn't even have the right to run for student council president if she couldn't apologize to a student for what she'd done earlier. How she felt about that student didn't matter. Everything she'd done would be pointless if she couldn't do that much — especially considering how much more than "a student" Peashy was.

Nodding, her mind made up, Ram headed for the door. She'd wait outside where the boxing club's locker room for Peashy to arrive, catch her before there was a chance for any drama with Peashy's various clubmates, and hopefully have it done and over with before she knew it. She could go sit in the library after for a little while and leave a few minutes before Rom, so she'd only have to be home by herself for a little. All in all, it seemed like, provided she didn't mess up with Peashy _again_, she was on the right track... for now.

_WHAM!_

"Mmphngh!?"

Falling to the floor for the second time that day, Ram furiously blinked back tears at the surprising sudden pain as the large metal door slammed open and knocked her to the ground. The girl instinctively clutched her nose immediately, fearful of damage, before looking up to see just who had caused her to fall down _again _once she was sure that she wasn't seriously injured... and wouldn't you just know it...

"Ra... _Ram_...?"

There was the devil blonde herself, looking down at Ram like a deer caught in the headlights, her voice cracking like a door creaking open. She had clearly been in a rush, if her current pose was any indication. She was still holding the door open, in mid stride, but also in mid-just-catching-sight-of-Ram as well. With one leg in the air, eyes wide and mouth hanging open, and her schoolbag having slipped from her shoulder down to the floor, letting its contents go everywhere, poor Peashy looked like she had just stepped on a landmine and any sudden movements would be the end of her life. It was one of the most ridiculous, most absurd, most _stupid_ _Peashy_ things Ram had ever seen in her entire life.

And yet it was so familiar as well. Ram could think of more than a dozen times when she had (or when she had watched someone else) been knocked down by Peashy during middle school. Sometimes Peashy would carry on like nothing had happened, other times she would actually realize what she had done... It was like she was really back there, in a weird sort of way — surrounded by the items that had fallen from Peashy's bag (naturally, among the normal school items were pudding cups — had Peashy never thought about what would happen if they spilled on all her school supplies?), her own on the floor now as well. Peashy really was still Peashy, even now. Ram had no idea what she was doing here instead of going to her club — maybe it had been canceled like her student council meeting too? — but then again, Peashy had never exactly been what to do anything else other than what she felt like...

Their eyes locked for a few moments. Ram could feel herself twitching, like she _was_ about to go off, like any moment the landmine that Peashy was so tensed up over would blow...

And then she did.

"P... Pea... P..."

Peashy swallowed.

"Ram, I-"

"_Pfffffffhahahahaha...!_ Y-You look so _stupid_ right now, h-hahaha...! W-Why are you holding your leg like that!? P-Put it down, put it down!" Falling onto her back, Ram burst into laughter, clutching her side with one hand and pointing at the blonde with the other. Tears of mirth began spilling from her eyes as laughter she had been holding in and bottling away for months began to spill out of her without an end in sight. "Just... _W-Why_, Peashy...?"

It was as though, rather than stepping on a landmine, Peashy had opened a treasure chest... or maybe Pandora's Box.

Seeing her old friend-slash-cohort-turned-nag burst into laughter like that might have eased the situation for some people, but for the likes of Peashy, either she had never expected Ram to be this way again or she had her own reasons for it, but regardless, even as she obeyed and put her leg on the ground as Ram had instructed her to do, she just seemed to become even more put off by this odd turn of events.

"I-It's not funny!" Her fists clenched stubbornly at her sides, the ponytailed blonde could only frown as she watched her response send Ram into another fit of laughter, which baffled Peashy even more. What in the world had gotten her so amused like this? Ram _never_ laughed around Peashy anymore, and now she was laughing _at_ her? No fair! T-That wasn't fair at all! Now _she_ was starting to get mad here, and it was usually Ram that was all mad and stuff...! "Stop laughing at me!"

The fact of the matter was that Ram herself didn't even know what she found so funny about it, truth be told. It was like... She had just walked into a time machine, somehow. For just this second, she didn't care about her grades or her goals or any of all the boring things she had never cared about prior to facing so much difficulty in her first year of high school. She was just... Ram again — even if those other things were now Ram too.

Luckily for Ram — for Peashy was looking less and less amused and more and more like the hothead that got into trouble with bullies — her laughter was starting to die down. She let her head drop onto the floor, not even caring that there were still remnants on her face of the happy, nostalgic tears that had spilled during that odd outburst of hers. She just... looked up at the ceiling, the warmth slipping back into the cracks of the cool. She sighed after another moment more of this — she could feel Peashy's hesitant eyes on her. Chances were she had been a few moments from a black eye, had she kept that up, but that would have been fine. Being able to personally give Peashy detention would have been pretty satisfying... and she would have deserved it anyway.

"Are you... okay?" The blonde hadn't moved — not to bend down to pick up her things, nor to check on Ram. There had been a time where the concept of personal space between any of the five friends — or even between any of them and some of their older sisters — hadn't even existed (well... Uni and her sister might have been an exception...), but now it was as though there was a ravine between them. "Ram? Raaa-aaaam? The door didn't break something, did it...? Is that why you're acting weird? I-It's not my fault if you did!"

After _that_, Ram sighed. Trust Peashy and her annoying voice to ruin her trying to think about things seriously for a minute.

Wiping her cheeks with the back of her palm, a half-hearted scowl settling into place, Ram sat on and looked in Peashy's direction. Seeing the sour look, which had recently been something to be used to, Peashy already found herself easing up. It took a moment for her to realize why Peashy looked as calm as she did compared to a few moments ago, but when she caught on — so angry Ram was okay, but laughing Ram was worth getting mad over!? — Ram narrowed her eyes at Peashy. Seeing something even _more_ familiar now, the blonde just grinned at Ram in turn, oblivious to how frustrating she was starting to be.

That wasn't what was what really frustrating about all of this though, was it?

Her ego deflating somewhat, the girl stood up, careful not to step on any rogue pudding cups as she did, and did her best to look like she wasn't about to snap at a moment's notice. Seeing this, Peashy... didn't do anything, because Peashy's obliviousness was only rivaled by her tactlessness — not that Ram could really say she wasn't in the running when it came to the latter. When you had a twin you always had to watch out for, though, you learned to pay attention to things...

"Peashy, I... I-I'm not forgiving you for that! Just so you know... But I was actually coming to talk to you." She was stumbling over her words like Uni did ever time Nepgear brought up the time they all tried out to be cheerleaders as a prank. That was as bad a sign as a sign could be. Worse still was the fact that she might be comparable to _Uni_... On the bright side, Peashy was paying rapt attention to her now, so that was a good sign. Had she not been so intent on getting this apology out and over with, she might have found it a little out how attentive Peashy looked — and so suddenly at that — but Ram had her share of obliviousness too, not that she knew it. "So listen up, okay? I'm only going to say it once!"

"R-Right, Ram! Just gimme a second, I wanna pick my stuff up- I-I wanted to come see you too!" Peashy nodded furiously as she spoke, bending down to start clumsily gathering up what had spilled out of her schoolbag. Not to be knocked down in the cliche "let me help you" "no, you don't have to" where she would bend down and assist, Ram knowingly chose to instead take a few steps back and simply watch as Peashy did all this, earning her a chance to calm her nerves instead of the broken nose helping probably would have gotten her. "O... Okay! I'm ready!"

Ram frowned. Peashy was ready for what? What weird idea did this girl have about things now? All Ram wanted to do was apologize and maybe start being less of a... the things people were starting to say about her, and since everything had gotten messed up when Peashy had come back into her life again, it made the most sense to start with her — and she did want to apologize too. For herself.

They'd had fights before, but this wasn't really a fight. This was just... something else. This wasn't like the time Ram had stolen the pudding she had been saving or the time Peashy had genuinely forgotten to send her and Rom invitations to her birthday party, which had led to a ridiculous three week feud, or, well... it wasn't like any of those times. But it was something that Ram still needed to do something about.

"Peashy, I just wanted to tell you that I..." Ram took a deep breath. It was do or die. She just had to make this apology and she'd have taken the first step towards doing all the things she needed to do to get back on track. "I'm really so..."

"W-W-W-Wait, nooo! Stoooop! I wanna do it first! I'll get you on purpose next time if you don't let me do it first!"

... what?

Looking strangely flustered, Peashy was scrambling around, fumbling through her bag and tossing papers and books out of it with reckless abandon — all things that she had _just gotten done picking up_. Ram could only wince as she realized it was going to be such a pain organizing all of that again — at least it hadn't looked been that bad when it had just fallen over — but now... Now Peashy was just throwing everything everywhere, making a big mess, holding a pudding cup in her direction, losing all her homework, and she'd be lucky if- Wait, what was that other thing?

The brunette could only stare at the object held out towards her. It was shaking, for the hand of the girl holding it was shaking as well, and said girl's face had turned a peculiar strange of red — if she wasn't careful, her blonde hair was going to turn orange if she stayed like that. Ram knew thinking about Peashy's hair was merely a way for her to cope, a way for her to distract herself from something she should have noticed much earlier, but she couldn't help it. Her mind was reeling from what it was being forced to face.

It was a pudding cup.

It was a _chocolate_ pudding cup.

It was a _chocolate_ pudding cup being _given to her on Valentine's Day_.

And it had her name on it, right on top of all sorts of hearts and decorations.

At long last — far too long considering it just hit her that it had been sitting right next to her only a few moments ago — Ram gasped.

Peashy had been coming to see her instead of being at her club. She had a Valentine all ready to give her. Did that mean... She thought Ram had been about to...?

"Wai... Peashy, no, I wasn..." Ram's eyes darted around nervously. She wasn't, but... In her bag... Could she? Should she? She hadn't- It wasn't right- What about...? It would mess up everything, wouldn't it? Before she could decide what she wanted, her mouth was moving all on its own, words she wasn't sure if she really meant coming out of them like they were being spoken by a robot instead of by her. "I... I just wanted to apologize for earlier, that's all..."

The pudding cup dropped to the floor. Ram flinched like she had been punched when it landed, despite the fact that, in an almost funny sort of way, it landed perfectly — after all the beatings it had likely taken up to now, and after the one just now, it still remained perfectly sealed... No, that wasn't it. Peashy had wrapped it so her own clumsiness wouldn't destroy it before she had a chance to deliver it, hadn't she?

If Ram felt like she had been punched, then Ram wasn't sure what she could use to describe the expression on Peashy's face. She clearly hadn't even expected this turn of events — not that Ram would have ever expected Peashy to ever feel this way about her after everything they had been through (or rather, everything they _hadn't_ been through) since Peashy had started going to high school with her, Rom, and the others. Shock seemed to be a pretty prevalent emotion there, but more than that...

"P-Peashy, I..."

Was she trying to let Peashy down easy? Why? Why would she do that when she had a Valentine she had done her best to make for Peashy in her own bag? A Valentine she made in a fevered, lack of sleep-induced moment of hope that a message she wasn't willing to pass on through words would get through with chocolate at that?

She couldn't get the words out. It was a little known fact — as it was, only she, Rom, Uni, Nepgear, and some of the teachers knew it — that Peashy, strong as she was and brave as she was and outstandingly caring as she was... was also sensitive to a fault at times_. _If she got going, she could bawl forever... Ram had comforted her from it just as many times as she had unwittingly caused it to know it, but right now, the last thing she wanted in the entire world was for Peashy to spill tears over this.

"O... Oh! Hahaha, I-I get it... I messed up, huh?" But she wasn't. She was being brave. She had probably come here knowing from the start rejection was a possibility. She had gotten her hopes up and had them crushed just now, but Peashy must have known from the very beginning that Ram might just throw her pudding Valentine in the trash. Yet instead of bawling and running to find their older sisters or anything else like she used to do, she was putting on a smile that would look to the world like it was genuine — because the world didn't know her like her friends did. "Woopsie... H-Hehe... Wow..."

It was that sight that did it.

Some might say she melted, but all things considered, the more accurate thing would be to say that in that moment, the ice queen of legend was brutally murdered, and from her ashes...?

"Gah... Grr... Darn it! Then it can't be helped... Take this, stupid!" The brunette ripped open her own bag before she shoved a decorated box towards the dejected looking Peashy, taking one of the girl's hands and making sure the box was safely where it should have been the entire time — from the first moment Ram had seen Peashy today. "There. Now... Maybe if you have something to _distract_ you, you'll stop causing so many problems and you'll figure out how to read the mood and not jump to conclusions!"

"Wha... H-Huh? Distract m_mmph!?_"

Whatever Peashy had been expecting, needless to say, it hadn't been _that_.

Feeling strangely... _liberated_ as she let go of the tie of Peashy's school uniform — yanking it like that had felt so _right_ — Ram pulled away from their kiss and gave Peashy a look more confident than any look she had given before. Her eyes shining with a brightness and an affection that Peashy hadn't seen directed at her in months, Ram gave the younger girl a once over before she nodded. Her cheeks were tinged with pink, but she still held an oddly commanding presence, as though she had just beaten a powerful boss and felt like she was on a roll.

"Here's how this works. You're my girlfriend now. We're going on a date next Saturday at two o'clock, you'll be on your class' cleaning duty for a year if you don't show up. But... If you _do_..." After issuing her command, a broad grin on her face, Ram put her hands on Peashy's shoulders and kissed her again. As she pulled away, the confidence had faded somewhat to reveal something else — something soft and blushing and giddy — but Ram wasn't about to let Peashy see any of that without earning it. Rom had to know first anyway. Her expression softening, her heart pounding, Ram took a step back and nodded. This was right. This was much better. This... Not having this was why she had been so... "Y-You might get more of those! S-So... Um... S-See you!"

Still fairly stunned over the events that had just transpired before her, Peashy could only blink slowly, watching as Ram, who was feeling better than she had since the moment Peashy had come back into her life, turned on her heel and strode down the hall — it was taking all Ram's power not to jump into the air and pump her fist up and down (but she'd be doing plenty of that once she got to her room at home).

After realizing she had been standing there for a good minute, Peashy started down the hallway.

High school... was _awesome_!

* * *

><p>The teacher in blue smiled to the man at her side as the blonde girl walked past them, seemingly in a confused, happy daze as she slowly munched on an enormous hunk of handmade chocolate — the word <strong>YES<strong> that had been carved onto it still as legible as it had been when it had been opened by the girl, despite the fact that she'd already taken a few bites.

"Young love sure is something, i-isn't it?"

"Oh, you're so adorably _naive_... That was just pent up _sexual tension_, darling...!" The man in the pink suit laughed merrily at horrified look on the blue haired woman's face, his laughter escalating each time she looked in horror from Anonydeath to the blonde girl that continued to walk on. "Hahaha... Maybe _now_ I can finally start taking those bubblebaths I like again... I have a feeling little Peashy is going to be a lot less interested in those hot showers of hers, and a _lot_ more in cold ones in the future! Hahaha...!"

"W-What? I don't get it... H-H-H-Heyyyy, what do you mean?! S-Stop laughing and tell meeeeeeee...!"

Oh yes... Love was _definitely_ in the air this Valentine's Day at Gamindusti High.


	9. February 19: The Beginning of The End

Blanc had already forgotten all about the reasons behind the impromptu celebration that had taken place in the Basilicom's library a few weeks prior. She still remembered it had happened, certainly, but the _why_ had sort of... slipped her mind, so to speak. The mess had been cleaned up and all the party favors had been moved to more appropriate places — in other words, it had all been stuffed into the twins' room. Things had finally seemed to return to normal after that. _Real_ normal too.

Ram was acting more like herself, she and Rom were playing around like normal, shares were on the rise, Monster Stalker 4 Supreme had recently launched to huge numbers, the newest wave of interactive lowiibo toys were flying off the shelves, and all in all, things were looking pretty good for Lowee and its future. Blanc certainly couldn't complain.

Sure, Blanc couldn't shake the feeling like she was forgetting something important, like she had specifically wanted to remember to do something today, but now that today was upon her, it was on the tip of her tongue... But you know what? For the life of her, she simply had no idea what it could have been. It must not have been that important after all. Tough luck to whatever it was, she supposed.

She _had_ noticed that there were dancing lambs on her computer's search engine earlier that morning when she'd gone online to look at cat pictures since she was alone and couldn't be judged for looking at th- wait no, that wasn't right! She had noticed that there were dancing lambs on her computer's search engine earlier that morning when she'd gone to to look at _very serious_ **business** related **business** things that had been pertaining to _**business**_. That was when it had happened.

The CPU wondered if the nagging feeling might have something to do with that, but she still couldn't think of what it might be. It wasn't like she was in the mood for mutton or anything... Actually, she couldn't even remember the last time she'd felt like having that or veal or any of that... Maybe it was a sign she needed to branch out? She was sure her counterpart in that other universe had a pretty wide range of foods she ate, but her Lowee wasn't as lucky thanks to the climate... Maybe she should go visit...

"Oh well." The CPU finally shrugged, closing out of what she was doing and setting thoughts of foreign food away for the day with a dismissive sort of sigh. If it was going to be a peaceful, uninteresting day, then that was perfectly fine with her. She just wished she could have more of those — not that she had anything against crazy parties if it got her sisters to stop being uncharacteristically mopey, but she was a creature of habit, and her habits tended to prefer quietness.

As she turned to shut her computer down, already thinking about what books she still had yet to finish from her bookshelf, which books she wanted to get over with so she could just enjoy the good ones, and which ones she wanted to save for days when she could sit back and waste the day away reading, she caught sight of the date. For some reason, the date, the specific numbers on the screen, it all stood out to her... But she couldn't think of why it possibly should. What was interesting about today? Nothing that she could think of. She knew she had had a conversation about it at some point, but...

Growling at herself, Blanc silenced those thoughts. This was keeping her from her books, and she was still no closer to figuring out what was bugging her. Why bother wasting the time? _50 Shades of Iris_ wasn't going to read and give negative reviews to itself!

Hovering her mouse over the "shut down" icon, Blanc, innocently unaware of what would soon befall her and her nation, finally decided to open a new internet browser and check the news. She rarely did this — when did anything pertinent to her ever get posted in the news that she didn't already know about beforehand? — but with how... _bugged_ she felt, she couldn't help herself. Something was up, like an itch she couldn't scratch, and she just had to check this and confirm that _nothing_ strange was happening, and then everything would be just... fine...

"No... _way..._"

Unfortunately for the CPU, while _she_ might have felt that way about the date, the people of Gamindustri — of _all_ of Gamindustri, as it turned out — didn't happen to be on the same page as her today. Then again, it wasn't like the people were often on the same page as their goddesses, but in this case? As it turned out, they weren't going to be on the same page as her for a long, _long_ time.

For the rest of the year, in fact.

You see, a funny thing happens when two CPUs and two CPU Candidates fly all across Gamindustri carrying a giant banner declaring something.

People see it.

People _notice_ it.

People _**believe**_ it.

And at the exact moment that Blanc caught site of the very first article on the finest of Gamindustri's news sources, Ram and Rom excitedly burst into Blanc's room holding calendars, looking for the world like Pongsmas had come early all over again. Blanc already knew what was coming, but at this point, she was trying so hard to deny it, trying so hard to reject the reality that had been forced upon her, that she refused to accept the horrible truth that was unfolding before her very eyes. And that reality, that brutal, _unforgiving_ reality was...!

"Look, sis! You gotta see this! We had the wrong kinda calendars all along! These have sheeps and goats and all kindsa farm animals in it for some weird reason, but they _all_ know what year it is!"

"It... It's Ram's year... It really is...! This one even has us on it...!"

Sure enough, the newly printed calendars made just for the _actual_ Year of the Ram all said it, just like the articles on the internet were declaring it to be so. All calendars in stores all across Gamindustri were probably in on it now as well. Worse yet, Neptune and Vert had already gone and opened their big, dumb mouths on their blogs and Chirpers endorsing it all and acting like it was part of some big plan...!

And there was nothing Blanc could do to say otherwise now.

For there, on the little square representing today on the calendar that could only have been printed within the past two weeks, sat the horrible words. Rather than the declaration of a new lunar year or whatever it was supposed to be, rather than the declaration of a new year about "farm animals," as the twins had put it... There was a picture of none other than Ram herself.

With her sisters dancing around her in glee, holding up their migraine inducing calendars and acting for the world like Blanc's worst nightmares hadn't just come true, the goddess' lowered her head.

What could she do now? That was easy. Nothing. She was stuck. Blanc couldn't turn around and deny this — what kind of horrible person would do that to her little sisters!? No, now she was stuck, stuck with a whole year... of Ram.

"What did I do to deserve this...?" The CPU groaned to herself, running a hand through her hair with one hand as she removed her hat with the other. Her sisters didn't seem to notice, and despite herself, she found a small, if still annoyed, smile creeping onto her face at their happy antics. She supposed she could live with this for a little while. What was the worst thing that could happen, after all? Maybe a year of this would help Ram get over that crap she had been upset about in the library for good... "Okay, enough of this friggin' rain dance!"

Shooting her arms out to grab a twin with each of them, Blanc gave them sharp looks, which earned her sheepish ones in return. She sighed in response, a wry smile finding its way onto her face. At least they weren't dancing anymore. If this was really happening, then at least it could happen _calmly_ and _peacefully._

"So much for that book..."

For some reason, though, even after all of this? Even after her worst fears had been realized, and she was going to have to deal with an _entire year_ of _this_?

Blanc _still_ couldn't shake the feeling that she had forgotten about something _really_ important...

* * *

><p>Noire stared at her computer screen, completely, absolutely, utterly, and positively <em>dumbfounded<em> as she read the article a tenth time over.

"'Planeptune and Leanbox CPUs instigate year-long celebration of Lowee's CPU Candidate, Lastation representatives nowhere to be found'...?" As she slowly repeated the headline staring her in the face on her computer screen, the black haired goddess was speechless. The article beneath went on the speculate and theorize and all sorts of things about her and her younger sister and relations between their nation and Lowee.

It was all a load of nonsense, but there was no denying the fact that while Planeptune and Leanbox were both clearly involved in whatever was taking place in Lowee, Lastation hadn't said or done a thing, and people all across the world had noticed, including Lastation's own. So caught up in this, her mind reeling, her hands actually _shaking_, Noire didn't even notice as her door slowly but surely peeked open, her younger sister starting to enter, filled with wonder and curiosity at the events that had taken place while they hadn't been looking.

"Hey Sis, did you hear about-"

Two frustrated hands slammed onto a desk as a goddess let out a wail of frustration.

"Well _maybe_ if someone had bothered to _invite us _to any of this, then MAYBE WE _WOULD _HAVE BEEN THERE!"

"... O-Oh... I guess... I guess you did, huh...?"

Sneaking back out the still open door, Uni decided that she could talk to her sister about it later.


	10. February 28: Sulking Sister Begone!

The past few days felt like a blur to Ram. As soon as people had realized that her year had started, things had changed significantly for her. For a young girl, CPU Candidate though she was, it was a lot to take in. Perhaps she hadn't actually thought about what it really being "her year" would be like, for despite being a young goddess, everything was more overwhelming than anything — certain, Gamindustri-threatening incidents aside — she could possibly remember. She did her best to try to keep up with it, yet it was really tiring her out!

It wasn't in a bad way, of course. Not at all. Ram was having some of the most fun she had ever had, or at least that she could remember anyway. Planeptune had thrown a parade for her, she had gotten to go and be on TV in Leanbox, and every day in Lowee made for something new and exciting, even if it was just meeting one of the residents who was taking part in the festivities. According to some of the people on TV that Ram didn't like to watch because they always used too big words just to look smarter, everyone was taking part to promote Gamindustri-wide peace and stuff like that.

Naturally, now that things had gotten really going in full swing, Ram was doing her duty as to involve Rom in things as best she could, and so far, that seemed like it was working. She always asked for extra if anyone gave her something nice looking to eat and every time (except that one...) she had managed to not touch it and get it home safely to share with Rom. She took Rom everywhere and made sure she got to be just as much a part of this, even though her name wasn't the one on all the new calendars that she kept seeing popping up.

And it was just so much _fun_! Everything, even the little things, seemed like they were decorated with an extra helping of sparkles and cake now that it was all happening in what people were _finally_ recognizing was her year — and Ram didn't even mind that people kept asking her to put on fake horns and pose for pictures, and she definitely didn't mind all the fluffy sweaters that kept getting sent to the Basilicom for her to wear. With all the snow, she was more warm than ever in it now!

Yes... In all Ram's life, Ram had never felt this excited, this happy, this... She didn't even know the word for it, but she was she there was one! She would have to ask someone else later. Even if she didn't know the word, she just knew that it was warm and fuzzy and she loved it!

Still... Through it all... One strange, peculiar thing stood out more than the others to her.

It wasn't the parade. It wasn't getting to be interviewed with Rom on television by 5pb. and Vert.

It was none of these things — for out of the ordinary as they were, they were all out of the ordinary in the same way.

It was how her oldest sister was acting.

Rom seemed to just be happy that everyone was looking Ram's way and was enjoying being brought along with everything, but Blanc... Blanc didn't seem like she was having much fun at all. Ram knew she wasn't the best at knowing how everybody else besides Rom was feeling, but she could see that her sister just wasn't having much fun. Was she jealous? Was she feeling left out? Ram wasn't sure, but she could tell that Blanc wasn't happy — and that didn't make Ram happy at all.

She still remembered something. It was fuzzy, lost in the haze of happiness that had shortly come after, but she still remembered Blanc being there for her when she had been so down that day. It had been an awful feeling, but Blanc being there — her sister being there — had helped. It had helped a lot.

Maybe... Maybe now Blanc just needed someone there for her too?

There was only one way for Ram to know for sure.

* * *

><p>Closing her eyes, Blanc let out a long, drawn out sigh as she sunk into her favorite armchair. She didn't even have it in her to read a book — she was just exhausted. Phone calls and e-mails and going back and forth to places she didn't even remember now, not to mention traveling to this nation and that... These past few days had <em>sucked<em>. Why hadn't anyone asked her if she was okay with this? Oh wait, they had. On TV. On _live freaking TV_. That was the first time anyone had stopped to ask her if she thought the entire world celebrating her little sister was a good idea.

_"I... I..."_

Yeah, like she was going to say anything bad about it and break her sister's heart like that. She was running low on tolerance, but she wasn't heartless — but damn it all, she needed a break. She needed a break. She needed a vacation. She needed to _not_ be a CPU for just a day.

Peeking one eye open, Blanc shot a glance to her computer. Just the thought of turning it on was enough to make her want to pass out. At least Mina had been keeping the twins in check while she was managing all of this madness.

But of _course_, Noire, one of the only people who knew her fake accounts (Blanc wondered if she would ever _not_ regret letting Noire, cosplaying under a pseudonym, posing for something she had written under a pseudonym a few years ago), had been riding her ass on the phone and online off and on since this had all starting. She would have figured the black haired CPU would have just done something by now to get in on everything and over with it, but oh no, _she_ was mad she had been left out. It was a good thing Lowee was cold, because Blanc probably was going to have a constant migraine for the rest of the year at this rate. Just like she'd figured she would.

"Maybe I really should go kill Vert and Neptune..." The CPU quietly mused to herself. She didn't mean it — she would never seriously mean anything like that — but it was just such a pleasant thought right now that she couldn't help herself. As annoying as Noire was being right now, in the long run, Blanc would gladly take Noire pestering her over the mess that Vert and Neptune had caused. Maybe she should send the twins to Leanbox and Planeptune for a little while if the two of them were so excited about worldwide peace... As if! "I know, I could write about a young princess slaying a pair of purple and green dragons... Nah, lizards. Fat, dumb lizards."

Just as a small smile began to form on the tired goddess' lips, at that unfortunate moment, there came a knock at her door. It was followed by the door opening, which made Blanc wonder why the person even bother to knock, but before she could pursue this train of thought further than that-

"Sis...? You here?"

The person spoke.

As soon as she heard the voice of the intruder, Blanc felt herself tensing up. It was Ram. Frustration, pent up after days of putting up with "the Year of Ram" having been in full swing, began to set in. Her aches felt like they ached tenfold and her exhaustion seemed to magnify just be hearing that voice. It wasn't exactly a new experience, but these past few days... These past few days had just...!

"Oh goodie! Okay, hold still! Promise me! Your younger sister has something fooooor yooooouuuu!"

Blanc could just see it now. Ram was probably wearing a crown. A big damn crown that crapped rainbows every time she walked. She knew she was bring unfair (she was being mean to the crown, not Ram, okay? she _had earned_ this spitefulness!), but she was so tired at this point that she just did _not give a single damn_. Swinging around, Blanc found angry, frustrated words forming on her lips, her shoulders stiffening, and an unjustified anger building up and ready to be unleashed-

She stopped just in the nick of time.

Unaware of what she had so narrowly avoided, Ram was looking at Blanc with a hopeful smile — almost shy, but too broad to be considered such. It was Ram, after all. She was wearing one of those dumb dresses that had come in the mail, and in her arms... Her arms were outstretched, and held between them...

"Wh... What the... What is this, Ram?"

It was crude, but it wasn't that mysterious — Blanc knew full well what it was just at a glance. She'd have to be blind not to know. Even so, she was compelled to ask, if for no other reason than to give herself time to compose herself and find her feet again, for she felt like she had lost them all of a sudden.

It was a Ram-sized, Ram-made banner featuring drawings of Blanc and Rom on it. They were decorated with horns and fluffy outfits, like the one Ram herself had been forced into wearing all the time these past few days. To top this picture off, the words "**HAPPY OLDER SISTER YEAR TOO**" were scrawled on it in large, clumsily written letters. It was colorful and torn in a few places and would never compare in quality to the one that had been specially made for Ram by the other CPUs and it looked like there were some odd mistakes that had been covered up by different pictures or sloppy dollops of whiteout ink... And for a moment, Blanc seriously considered having it framed.

Luckily, such an offensively _sisterly_ and _maternal_ thought quickly left her, but the rush of feelings that seeing it had brought to her were still there.

Just looking at it made all of Blanc's frustration leave. Maybe she _would_ frame it, or at least hang it up somewhere close — just so she could look at it when she was especially ticked off at the twins' shenanigans in the future.

Ram wasn't trying to do anything to her on purpose. She would _never_ do that — she had never _done_ that. Not at all. She was just being herself. Even Vert and Neptune weren't doing anything to her — they had just been having some fun with Ram too, and all _they'd_ done was try to make up for it when it had gone awry. What the hell was wrong with her, bitching and moaning that her little sister was getting some attention for a change? The kid deserved it, so long as it didn't get to her head — though if this was what she was doing, Blanc had the feeling it probably wouldn't.

"It's for you! I made Rom one too." Looking proud of herself (damn right she was, she should be! ... wow, Blanc really _was_ getting a little maternal, wasn't she? better write that story about killing the lizards later), Ram offered her banner to Blanc, which the CPU was, to her surprise, genuinely happy to take. It was a strange feeling for what she thought was the source of all her frustration and tiredness to be the one to make it all just vanish with something like this. Well, she was still tired, but she could live. "You've been looking like you were really sad that you were getting left out, so I wanted you to not be left out anymore. Do you like it?"

Hearing this, Blanc raised an eyebrow. She was sad about being left out, was she? Was that how Ram had taken how she had been acting lately? Well... The fact that Ram had actually even noticed _anything_ about her big sister while the whole world was throwing her a party? She liked that a lot.

Offering her younger sister a small smile, Blanc dropped her hand on the girl's head.

"I do." After a moment's pause, Blanc lightly ruffled the girl's hair, then stepped back and surveyed her room. "Now help me find somewhere to hang it."

And that?

That got a bigger, happier, more sincere smile out of Ram than anything anyone celebrating "The Year of Ram" had done for her yet.


	11. March 1: Uniting No One

"Huh? You're willing to talk _now_? What do you mean you've been willing to talk and _I_ was 'whining' this whole time...?! The never of you, Blanc! ... W-Wait, don't hang up-"

Sighing to herself, Lastation's CPU Candidate silently slipped out of her sister's office as she heard the goddess slam down her phone in frustration — she mentally blocked out the image of her sister, wonderful and perfect, pouting, but this time it was mostly for personal reasons than the usual, blissfully unaware reasons that she kept Noire's image pristine in her heart.

As for what she had come there for... It didn't seem like now was a good time to try to talk about it. Not that any time had seemed like it had been particularly good these past few days — was it weeks now? Uni was purposely not keeping track. An important day had come and gone, after all, but with a whole _year_ just having been getting underway at the time, it had gone by without so much as a mention from most. How would she have even brought it up? It would have been so rude, so arrogant to bring it up herself... It was probably better this way. It would be so shameless of her to try to bring it up herself...

She hadn't expected much — she never did. It wasn't that she had a pessimistic attitude about things, for she loved her sister more than anyone else in the whole wide world — and with that came the understanding that Noire was cool and calm and had important things to do and so much work to do and... Things like that. Normally, Uni could proudly go on for hours about how amazing her sister was, but she just wasn't feeling it today. For while in the past, Noire's contributions may have been awkward or stiff... at least she was always on time before.

Uni found herself at a crossroads.

She was happy for Ram, there was no question about that, not at all, but...

Through all of these shenanigans surrounding one of Lowee's CPU Candidates, the birthday of Lastation's CPU Candidate had been forgotten by the person she wanted recognition from most of all.

"At least Nepgear remembered... And Kei... And even Vert...!" Uni shook her head, trying to convince herself that nothing was wrong with her sister not even saying anything to her. Not even a brisk "Oh, happy birthday" on the way to a meeting, not a pause during breakfast, followed by an awkward smile and then "By the way, happy birthday, Uni" — none of that... B-But it was okay that none of that had happened, really! Noire was trying to fix relations with not only Lowee, but the rest of Gamindustri!

It was natural she had more important things to do than waste her time with her helpless little sister that fell apart just because Noire hadn't said something to her...! I-It was fine, really, she should use this as a learning experience-! That way she could learn to be used to...

Biting her lip, Uni stopped those thoughts there.

"But..."

The CPU Candidate cast a forlorn look in the direction of her sister's door — in the direction of her sister herself.

"Who wants to be used to being forgotten...?"

* * *

><p>Three sighs rang out in unison.<p>

"I guess Uni isn't coming..."

As they finally accepted this conclusion, Nepgear, Ram, and Rom all exchanged disappointed looks. They had made plans to play the new Monster Stalker game today, with their meeting time at Planeptune's Basilicom set to well over an hour prior to the current time, but Uni still hadn't arrived. They hadn't heard anything from her either, but naturally, all of Lastation's phone lines were tied up with the phone tag Noire and Blanc were still currently engaged in. The CPU Candidates felt bad for them, but it made them glad not to be CPUs yet, at least...

For a few moments, the CPU Candidates sat in silence, holding their game systems in their hands with pensive expressions on their faces.

"C... Can we still play?"

Surprisingly, it was Rom that spoke up with this request. Nepgear and Ram both turned to look at the brunette, who looked down sheepishly, guiltily even, as a light blush began to color her cheeks. Even she seemed to be surprised that she was the one to have asked rather than Nepgear or Ram, for she clearly seemed ashamed of herself to have been putting the game back into the spotlight over whatever Uni was up to. Now that she had said it, there was no going back — she knew if she didn't come out with it, they would start asking her, and oh... She couldn't handle that...!

"W-Well, I... um... There's some armor I'm... I mean, um, I can't..."

Nepgear nodded in understanding, while Ram was already turning her game on. Seeing her friends on her side, Rom felt relief settle in, before she too turned on her game so they could all start playing the game...

"So Rom, what's the one you're having trouble with?"

"Yeah, even without Uni, we can definitely get you what you want!"

"O-Okay...!"

* * *

><p>It was shortly after Rom had gotten the last thing she needed to make the armor she had wanted that Nepgear stood up.<p>

"I'm going to talk to my sister for a bit- You two keep playing, okay?"

"'Kaaaay!" "Okay..."

Leaving the others to their own devices, Nepgear walked over to where her sister was seated a short distance away. As she approached, Nepgear took a moment to stop and just take in what her sister was wearing. She wasn't sure if Neptune was doing it as a joke or if she really cared about celebrating (considering this "holiday" was partially thanks to her, Nepgear wouldn't be surprised if it really was the latter), but whatever the reason, Neptune had replaced her usual hair clips with short plastic horns and had on a hoodie decorated with little Rom and Ram faces all over it.

Some might think it blasphemous for Planeptune's goddess to be wearing clothes bearing the picture of another nation's, but considering how often Neptune ran around in her various monochrome outfits, often described (by herself) as her "Look at me! I'm Noire but I know how to smile and make friends!" wardrobe (and occasionally her "Noire, stop, I didn't mean it! Let me in, I wanna play too!" one), most didn't really pay things like that anymore.

Shaking her head, Nepgear cleared her throat. Her sister was apparently caught up in a handheld game that had come out recently — she'd been so secretive about it, but she hadn't been able to put it down! Nepgear knew it was something like Superdevotion... something, but she still had no idea what it could be or why Neptune would be so interested in it, yet not want to share...

"Huh? Nep Jr.? Wassup?" Nepgear set those thoughts to the side when she realized her sister was looking up at her, her game system set down and all of her attention solely on Nepgear — it was a nice feeling, simple as it was. "You guys outta snacks or something?"

"H-Huh? Oh, no, that's not it-" Shaking her head, Nepgear sat down across from Neptune and began to explain her concerns to the other CPU. "It's about Uni... All of this with Lastation not taking part, that's something Noire has to deal with, but I don't think it's good for her. She didn't come over today even though we had made plans, and the last time someone didn't come over when we had preexisting arrangements in this story, it led to something else... I'm getting a little worried, Sis, but..."

And so Nepgear told her tale of worry and woe — or something to the effect. She had basically been almost done before the dialogue box faded out anyway. When Nepgear was done telling this tearfully tragic tale, however, Neptune didn't seem to think particularly much of those concerns.

"Awww, don't you worry your little head about your little girlfriend, Nepgear! She's probably trying to get Noire to be a sensible CPU for once — you know, like me and Vert are." Neptune waved her hand dismissively, brushing off both Nepgear's flustered response to the accusation as well as her worries. "This is a silly story about Blanc and her kid sisters, remember? It's not like **we're foreshadowing a minor subplot** or anything! How would that even work? Sure, a lot of the chapters so far have been connected — **1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, and now this are all part of the same story** — but what happens when we go back to throwing in weird ones again? It'd interrupt the subplot!"

Frowning, Nepgear wondered if she should point out what had just happened with her sister's dialogue... but she thought better of it — Neptune might start teasing her again if she did! Or worse, she might bring up some of her own... less than savory actions in chapters past.

"Goodness, if it's just something like that, I'm sure there's a way to make it work..." Hesitating, Nepgear considered herself. Neptune did make a rather convincing argument — though she was often, admittedly, biased towards her sister's judgements at times... Even so... "Are you sure, Sis?"

"Sure I'm sure!" Neptune gave her sister the peace sign upon seeing Nepgear start to ease into the idea of everything being okay. That was the way to live — free and easy, just like her! "Look, you guys are playing Monster Stalker, right? Maybe she's just mad because that used to be a Lastation thing and now it's a Lowee one. You should play something she'd like next time, that'd be nice of you guys. Trust me on this. I'm not your big sis for nothin'!"

Nepgear blinked. That... actually _was_ a rather convincing argument for why Uni might have decided to sit this meeting out. A disappointing one, certainly, but one that did sound like Uni, at least... Was it really just that? Was that all this was? She hoped so...

"Oh... I suppose that makes sense too... Well, um, I'll see you then..." Sighing to herself, Nepgear stood up, bidding her sister farewell. Neptune shrugged in response — was it really that big a deal? this was a sweet, sisterly, family story after all! and it was supposed to be about Ram! Uni couldn't possibly ever get focus in it! — and picked up her game to go back to it, while Nepgear headed back in the direction of her friends. "Maybe she's right... Maybe it is nothing... We can play Kisszone next time, then she'll definitely come — she likes that game. Sis is definitely right...!"

That was probably it.

It wasn't like Neptune was normally ever wrong about anything, was she?

* * *

><p>Much later, as Ram clambered into bed alongside Rom, settling down for bed after a long, fun, and enjoyable day... It finally occurred to her. The horrible truth that she had been glossing over all along — the undeniable betrayal that had been staring her in the face for longer than she should have ever allowed! It was unforgivable! Nothing was worth this humiliation! Not even all these big words she didn't totally know the meanings of!<p>

"W-Wait a minute! I was barely in this chapter! No fair! You can't make it about the year of me but not about _me_! I want a redo-"

"Ram... Who are you talking to? Mina will come back and make us brush our teeth again if you don't go to sleep..."

"B-But... Oh, fine..."


	12. March 8: Uniting Uni

It had just struck lunchtime as three CPU Candidates touched down in front of Lastation's Basilicom, before they returned to their human forms in a flash of light. In the center of this trio was Nepgear, bags of all kinds in each of her hands. To the left of Nepgear was Rom, a tremendous stuffed horsebird almost as big as she was in her arms, while at Nepgear's right was Ram, a box of some sort carefully held in hers. While the things they held in their arms seemed to all match a common theme, their expressions couldn't be further apart.

On the left, Rom's face was hidden away almost completely by the stuffed animal, but behind it was the face of a passive, hopeful young girl. In the center, Nepgear looked rather worried, doubtful even — but in stark contrast to the expressions of her companion, Ram on the right looked fairly confident in herself, though what it was she was confident in herself doing was anyone's guess at the moment.

It had been a few days since the Candidates had gathered together to play Monster Stalker and Uni hadn't joined them, and since then, things hadn't changed _particularly_ much — which was precisely why they had gathered here at Lastation's Basilicom now. While Uni _had_ joined them for subsequent gettogethers after the Monster Stalker extravaganza that she had missed, even the twins had noticed that something was off once they had seen her. Looking at the two other Candidates, Nepgear couldn't help but wonder if they were making the right decision here...

* * *

><p><em>"Uni! You made it!" Nepgear smiled broadly when her friend finally floated through the open window. Histoire had been against leaving it open during such a cold season (Neptune kept going on about how they should start getting shares from the weather and naming the storms after themselves, what a crazy idea!), but the sharp thinking of Neptune and Ram had led to them coming up with a solution that had pleased everyone — and now Uni was finally joining them! "Goodness, I'm so glad! Come on over, we haven't started yet."<em>

_Now in her normal form, the black haired girl seemed more passive than usual, but there wasn't any one thing Nepgear could point to as the fourth Candidate of their usual group made her way over to them after shutting the window behind her. Her shoulders were just a little more slumped, her face was just a bit more downcast, her strides a bit shorter... She definitely appeared out of it somehow, but...  
><em>

_"O-Of course I did! You guys think I would miss the chance to beat all three of you again?" But her words were normal. Even if her smile seemed just a little crooked, Nepgear just couldn't put her finger on what it was that was bothering her — all of those things together might add up to something, but... Oh, if she said something and was wrong, then she'd just be making things awkward! _

_Better to just be happy Uni was here and-_

_"Uni? You sick? You don't look so good." Nepgear could have thrown something (something soft, understand, like a pillow, that's all! nothing that would have caused lasting damage, though, certainly not! ... probably not! ... maybe not!) at Ram when the brunette asked such a blunt question to Uni — even if she... did sort of want to know the answer herself... B-But that still didn't mean Ram couldn't be tactful about asking, goodness! Uni had only just gotten there! "Hey, Uni! Are you?"_

_"Wh- Huh? Me?" Realizing all eyes were on her, the CPU Candidate began waving her arms and laughing, as if the mere idea of her being sick was ludicrous. "D-Don't be stupid! I just, um, I had a lot of birthday cake last night, because, um, Sis and I are still celebrating it, so I'm a little tired, that's all! Now are we gonna play or not?"_

_She tried to act like nothing was wrong for the rest of the day, but unfortunately, that had set the tone. She had already been forcing herself, and now she was forcing herself to not act like she was forcing herself even though she was already forcing herself. Nepgear wasn't sure if Rom and Ram could grasp something so nuanced (to be honest, she was pretty confused herself, but she got the general idea well enough), but they did seem to be a little more sensitive than usual, so she would just have to hope..._

* * *

><p>Nepgear shook her head before she shot a look at the person that had come up with the plan that they were now here to carry out.<p>

"Ram, are you sure this will work?"

The CPU Candidate in question turned to Nepgear, looking affronted for a moment, before she grinned broadly, as if she couldn't even believe the question needed asking in the first place — that was just how confidence the almighty Ram was!

"Sure I am!"

... at least, that was how confident the young girl looked to Nepgear, but considering this _was_ Ram, the girl that had been convinced that it was "her year" for weeks before it had actually happened through a sort of accident, Planeptune's CPU Candidate couldn't be so sure about that. Still... What could she do?

"But how are you so sure about that?" Ask nicely and not act like she was full of doubt, that's how! While her sister would be blunt and make fun of Ram — or tease her and say things that would go over the girl's head — Nepgear would use the power of tact and sincerity to get her sought out answer with no problem at all!

And as it turned out, after exchanging a heartfelt look with the ground and then another with her sister, Ram turned to Nepgear to offer an answer that even Nepgear felt fairly sure about herself.

"Uni's sister practically never has a party for stuff when it happens. Uni's birthday already happened, why would they be doing anything now?" Ram made a fairly convincing argument (Nepgear mentally apologized to Noire for thinking that about her), and even Nepgear couldn't deny the possibility. Just as Nepgear was about to settle on this explanation, the youngest CPU Candidate, after a moment's hesitation, continued. "And... I mean, um... I felt like I knew when I saw it. It was like when no one remembered it was my year. I... I mean I haaaaated that soooo much! So, yeah, she must too!"

Nepgear smiled softly as Ram caught herself towards the end of her explanation — stopping herself from revealing too much and instead turning it into something else instead. She supposed she hadn't given the girl enough credit, had she? Shaking her head, shaking away the thought, she knelt down to set the bags on the ground, much to the surprise of the twins, before she reached out to pat her fellow Candidate on her head.

"W-What are you doing!? Stoooop...!" Flustered, the CPU Candidate looked as though she wanted to do something to get Nepgear away from her, but in a moment that showed an extremely surprising amount of self-control for Ram, knowing what she was carrying, the CPU Candidate was forced to stand and take the horrible abuse that was Nepgear's undivided affection for the time being. What a cruel fate indeed. "We have stuff to do, do it to Uni if you're gonna do it to anybody, d-dummy!"

Grinning, Nepgear stood up, reaching to retrieve the bags once again so that they could be on their way, when-

"N-No fair... Why only Ram...?"

Nepgear and Ram both blinked, before they slowly turned their heads towards the third member of their party, who had her reddened cheeks slightly puffed out as she looked on in quiet frustration from behind the giant stuffed animal she was carrying. Though she was unsure of what it was that Rom was asking for, after a moment, Nepgear realized what the girl wanted, and so she reached over to do the same to Rom, who was much more happy to receive the "punishment" of Nepgear's than her sister had been a moment ago.

And as she gave Rom her desired head patting, which in turn seemed to make Ram jealous that Ram was getting extra attention, leading to a series of back and forth headpats, Nepgear couldn't help but wonder...

"If only Uni was this easy to please..."

Once all heads had been accounted for, patted, and addressed an equal and fair amount, Nepgear and the others finally entered the building. The CPU Candidate was hopeful that no one had been watching the display they had been putting on just outside for any potential onlookers, but as it turned out, not many people were working today — Luck Heart was on their side, it seemed! And so, slowly but surely, the three Candidates made their way through Lastation's Basilicom. Luckily for them, not even Uni or Noire seemed to be around... which did raise another concern altogether, but one Nepgear wasn't rather interested in giving too much thought...

"What if they're not home...?" Rom finally asked the question for all three of them, voice hushed, as the trio sneakily made their quiet way past the kitchen. Rather than replying to her, however, Ram and Nepgear exchanged an awkward look — like they had both been worried about this being the case already. Rom looked stricken when she didn't receive an answer immediately, worried if she had said something wrong or if she had been the first one to think of it and had upset Ram and Nepgear... This sudden burst of anxiety caused her to nearly stumble over herself as she turned the corner from the kitchen to the hallway- "Ah...! No...!"

The tremendous stuffed horsebird went flying, and surely, any moment now, Rom would be meeting a similar fate — or at least she would be meeting the floor-!

"Got you...!" — if not for Nepgear being there with a reliable shoulder for her to catch herself on. The giant stuffed animal landed safely a few yards away, making a comical series of squeaks as it bounced away, while the three girls sighed in relief as it continued to bounce — squeaking with each consecutive bounce it made further and further away from them, one slow, arcing bounce at a time. "That was a close one, huh Rom?"

Rather than vocalize her agreement, as she was still trying to catch her breath and regain her composure, the girl simply nodded meekly in response, a small, sheepish forming on her face as she did so.

Grinning at her sister, Ram opened her mouth to speak — perhaps to tease her, perhaps to reassure her, most definitely to say _something_ — when she was interrupted by the sound of the stuffed animal's final squeak some ways away, perhaps having finally decided it was time to stop horsing around. With the timing as it was, it all occurring at that exact moment as they were trying to sneak around and be quiet, the three CPU Candidates just stopped to listen to that last squeak.

Nepgear cracked a grin.

Ram's grin began to widen.

Rom started to smile.

Before they knew it, what they had been carrying had gotten put down on the ground and the three of them were laughing. It was such a nothing thing to laugh at, such a ridiculous cliche that Nepgear's sister surely would have pointed out had she been present, yet they just couldn't help themselves. After how seriously they had been taking this, after how they had been sneaking around like little spies or ninjas, that squeak just broke them. And so they laughed and laughed, and then they laughed some mo-

"_What_ are you guys _doing_?"

Like a shock running down each of their spines, the three CPU Candidates halted their laughter and straightened their backs immediately upon hearing a fourth voice — for the owner of that fourth voice was someone that, obviously, was not among their group of three when they had arrived! As if like a switch had been flipped, when they realized just who it was that had arrived, Nepgear tried to latch on to the twins — but not to have their plans foiled just yet, the twins hastily ripping their coats off as they covered what they had left on the ground with their coats...! Because the person that arrived was none other than...!

"What are you doing here?!"

"No... It's too soon..."

"_Uni_...!?"

* * *

><p>Uni had been having an... acceptable day. Noire had given everyone the day off so she could... Well, Uni didn't really even want to know what her sister was doing anymore — she'd been over to Lowee more than once over the past few weeks and somehow, things had seemed more normal over <em>there<em>, where one sister was having her existence celebrated by the _entire world_, than they did here in Lastation.

At least today she was on her own... Okay, so that wasn't really a positive, but she'd been getting used to it. It wasn't like Lastation and Lowee would go to war over something silly like this (... then again... n-no, her sister would never do something like that!), but Uni couldn't help but wonder if being stubborn was just a trait that all CPUs seemed to have. Would she get it too someday if she ever became a true CPU? Or maybe she had a little of it already? Did that mean she was on her way to becoming a CPU...? She wondered...

Either way, if she did have it, was _that_ why she wasn't saying anything about how she felt to Noire...? If Noire had forgotten on the day of her birthday, it was perfectly possible that, once it was no longer that day, it wouldn't even occur to her anymore... Maybe... Maybe it was _her_ fault now for letting this bottle up...?

The girl shook her head at such thoughts.

Her sister was doing important things because she was important and wonderful and if forgetting birthdays was part of that, then she should just learn to do the same thing and move on with her life. I-It wasn't like she _cared_ or anything...

In the end, she'd decided to just spend the day playing Liberty Wars_._ It wasn't the same as playing the _brand new_ Monster Stalker with the others, especially since she had more stalking experience than anyone else (except her sister of course), but it would do. After spending a lot of time customizing her character and her loyal robot assistant, she had set off for some of the harder online matches. Things had gone pretty well for her... Up until she'd entered a room _filled_ with her sister. Her sister surely wouldn't be playing the game, of course not, but every single player and each of their robot companions was customized to look _just like Noire_. And there she was, the lone Uni in the room... who, worst of all, was mistaken for Noire due to certain "adjustments" she'd made to her avatar's design...!

During the first game, things hadn't been so bad. A few sarcastic comments here and there remarking how this was more time she had spent with her sister in what felt like forever, and it wasn't even her real sister. She had quickly apologized for them and returned her focus to the game, and soon enough, the day was won and the robot enemies had been defeated.

During the second game, however... Uni started to slip up. She was defending Noire, saying she was very busy, that she had a lot of work to do, that it was only _natural_ she wasn't able to give Uni any attention. Noire had to deal with Lowee and deal with the normal things Lastation's goddess needed to deal with and she had to make time for herself and... and she had to fight giant robots and free prisoners! As if it was fate, her allies, all decked out in the attire and even image of Lady Black Heart, soon abandoned her as well...!

They had lost that second game. Naturally. Uni had a sneaking suspicion she (or more specifically, her leaving on her voice chat) was the reason why.

The third game was the breaking point. The host of the room had chosen a much harder mission, and Uni started to become very... _vocal_ about her feelings.

Though they had eventually won — perhaps due to a burst of effort on her part when Nepg- er, no, when her robot ally had been kidnapped and she would _not_ accept losing that too... Even after that close call of a victory, Uni just didn't feel like much of a winner. In fact, she felt like she would have rather been playing Monster Stalker with her friends. Or better yet, a certain sister of hers...

"I bet Ram gets to play with _her_ sister. I bet _her_ sister doesn't forget things..." She said to herself as she turned off her Unita, a sour expression on her face as her gaze drifted to her bedroom wall. She could just imagine what Ram must be doing right now...

_"Sister! I wanna play this game! Will you play it with me?" Ram would say, a brand new game in her hands that she picked out just to play with her sister. Rom would be there too, holding up the controllers and looking up at their older sister with stars in her eyes._

_Blanc would look to them from the book she was reading. She would look at the game, the book again, and then to the game, as though she couldn't even believe such a ridiculous question was being asked of her by these children she called her sisters.  
><em>

_"Why didn't you say something sooner!?" Blanc would cry out, throwing her book out the window. How could she even allow something like that in her life when she had little sisters to love and pay attention to!? Completely forgetting the book, she would reach up to her hat and pull out... The same game!? "Of course I'll play with you! I want nothing more than to play with you and bathe with you and celebrate your birthdays and read you stories and cuddle with you every single day! Now come here and hug me! It's almost snuggle'o'clock! We don't want to be late, now do we?"  
><em>

After a few moments of this... _fantasy_, Uni's sour expression expression faded, replaced by one resembling a fighter giving up after a good match... or something to the effect. Blushing quite a bit, extremely embarrassed by the scene she had just been picturing and how it was she that had created it in the first place, Uni found herself laughing at the whole thing. She knew full well what she was imagining wasn't even remotely possible — perhaps that was why she had imagined it in the first place.

"That's right! My sister would never do something as embarrassing as any of that...!" Uni added to herself, crossing her arms and nodding firmly. Just the idea of Noire pulling things out of her clothes and acting so childish like that... it was disgraceful! It wasn't Noire at all! It wasn't even the kind of thing _Neptune_ would do... Though Uni was fairly certain Nepgear would probably eat every moment of it up if her older sister started acting weird like that. "... But... You know..."

She probably would too.

"Darn it, what am I doing? I-I'm Lastation's CPU Candidate, I can't be getting upset over unimportant things like this!" Hopping out of her bed, filled with a forced sense of determination, the girl looked towards her door. If she didn't feel good, then she'd pretend she did until she really felt like she did for real. That made sense — really, it did! Just like a subplot about her and her sister's relationship made sense taking place in the middle of a story about someone else! That also made sense! "And speaking of eating things up, I'm getting hungry... I'll go get some lunch, that's what I'll do! I'll, um, I'll be productive and feed myself, and then maybe I'll get something done even though it's a day off!"

With her plan of action determined, forced as it was, Uni left her room. She was already feeling a little better — or maybe her plan was just already starting to take effect. Her destination was the kitchen — a place that she visited multiple times every day. She didn't expect to see anything out of the ordinary, nor hear anything out of the ordinary, nor...

... _Squeak_...

The Candidate frowned.

... _Squeak_...

She wasn't sure what that was, but... Anyway! She couldn't have any of whatever that was, now could she? So-! As she was _saying_...

_... Squeak_...

Uni stared, dumbstruck, as an enormous stuffed animal bounded down the hallway from the direction of the kitchen towards her. She held her arms out for it, unsure if this was a dream or reality, and waited. Sure enough, after another bounce, the thing found its way into her arms. It was big and soft and warm and fluffy and... And and and Uni was alone, s-so it wasn't like anyone would see, so...

... _Squeeeeeeaaaaak_...

She hugged it.

She didn't know how it got there, but the timing was just too perfect, too spot on. She hugged it and it let out a loud, final squeak, and she actually did feel a little better.

... Right up until she heard the laughter.

Her twintails practically standing up on end, Uni put the giant horsebird doll down, positively mortified that she was being laughed at, and began towards the direction of the laughs, her strides long and confident. She was fairly certain she knew who it was that was laughing so hard, but how could they have done that!? And... And why had they thrown a toy down her hall anyway!? Ohhhhh...! She was actually a little annoyed now!

"_What_ are you guys _doing_?" Sure enough, it was her fellow CPU Candidates. She looked on at them in annoyance, arms crossed and brow furrowed, as they froze up when they realized they had been caught. What, had they not even thought she would be in her own home...? That was just-

"What are you doing here?!"

"No... It's too soon..."

"_Uni_...!?"

The black haired Candidate just stared at them. Did they... Did they actually... Did they really not think she was going to be here!? Had _all_ of them started eating expired pudding like Nepgear's sister did?!

"I... I live here, you dummies!" The three girls slowly exchanged confused looks, like they were just coming to terms with the fact that Uni might be home in her own home. What, were they coming to see her sister too? No... That was doubtful... Probably... B-But still! Why were they ignoring her now too!? And after she had just been thinking how she wanted to spend time with them too- N-Not that she felt that way anymore... Or ever would again either...! "And it's not too soon for me to come to the kitchen, it's lunch time!"

Uni was just... She was just... She was so...!

"W-We're sorry, Uni, um, oh goodness..." Nepgear began looking around, anxiety hitting her like a hammer wielded by a plumber hitting a blue robot clean across a galaxy. They had come here to help, and now they had made things worse! The stuffed animal was gone, but... But... Um... What could they do, what could they do? Nepgear hadn't put on her protagonist title today, she was still wearing the babysitter one Neptune had put her in after saying how cute it was on her! "Ram? This was your idea, so what do we do now? What, er, would _you_ want done?"

Lastation's CPU Candidate's ears perked up at that as she watched the youngest of the bunch scrunch up her face and start to think.

So... It was the year girl's idea to break in and forget her? And she was calling the shots? She'd even gotten rid of her coat and made herself all nice and cozy too! No wonder Lowee and Lastation were about to go to war! This should be the Year of Noire if anything!

"Yeah, Ram, what would _you_ want done?" Narrowing her eyes, Uni put her hands on her hips. Despite the fact that she had no idea what Nepgear was even talking about, she already knew she didn't like it one bit. Why would she? They hadn't told her about it — they clearly didn't want her involved. "Hmph... I-I bet it's whatever you want, right? Sure must be nice...! Spoiled little _kid_."

Nepgear couldn't believe her ears for a moment — even the twins seemed to be taken aback. While their sisters often broke out into their arguments from time to time, it had been a long time since there had been any real hostility between the four of _them_, but Uni didn't sound like she was messing around one bit.

"H-Hey, don't talk to me like that! You're just a big stupid face!" Forgetting herself for a moment, Ram scrambled to her feet and took the time honored position of clenching a fist dramatically in front of her chest while glaring at her fellow touch screen. The sparks flying between the two of them were practically visible, though between Ram's confused ones and Uni's half-hearted ones, this was a fight that didn't seem like it could end well. "Do you wanna fight me? I could fight you even by myself! I'll beat you up!"

Uni's eyes lit up at the idea. Maybe she'd feel a lot better if she socked it to Ram...!

"Sounds like a good idea to me! Is that the first one you've ever had?" Part of Uni felt guilty for what she was saying, but part of her — part of her that wasn't even upset with Ram, that wasn't even upset with any of her friends — really just did not care one bit about what she was saying right now. "We should put it under your pillow for the Tooth CPU to get!"

"H-Hold on!" Realizing that something might seriously be about to break out — and in the middle of the Lastation Basilicom no less — Nepgear stood between the two CPU Candidates as they glared at each other, hoping to cut off Ram from making another remark. It seemed like hope was lost for this to turn out even half as well as they had hoped it would. Was it even a little bit salvageable at this point...? "Please, everyone, think about this...! Uni, um, we can go! We didn't want to cause any problems, we just..."

Nepgear trailed off. Her friend was upset — not about them being here, she knew that much, but it was... something. She couldn't tell what it was, but it bothered her and it forced her to falter, right at the most crucial time no less.

"Here... For Uni..."

Standing at Uni's other side was Rom, who obviously couldn't be in her good corner either considering she was _the enemy's sister_, but there she was all the same, holding up a box to boot. Little did Uni know it, but this was the same box Ram had dutifully been carrying around earlier. Ram and Nepgear both froze up seeing the box, Nepgear beginning to wave her arms around like presenting it was a bad idea, while Ram just seemed like she had no idea what to do.

Uni quirked a brow. So, this was something they didn't want her to have, was it? She found herself smirking as she took it gently from Rom's hands, reaching for the lid without a care in the world. If this would be her first strike against Lowee's forces, even if it had been hand delivered to her by one of them — a defector? — then so be it.

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNI**

"... Eh...?"

The CPU Candidate stared. The colored frosting stared back at her. The only reason it hadn't fallen to the ground — for Uni's shaking hands couldn't support it any longer by themselves — was because Rom and Nepgear had managed to reach out in time and stop it from crashing and meeting its delicious demise.

"T-This was _your_ idea?" Uni shot a questioning look at Ram. Bags of plates and other party favors could be seen underneath the coats that Rom had moved out of the way to retrieve the cake box. The girl in questioned just made a "hmph!" noise and acted like she was more interested in the ground, but the quick glances she kept shooting over were quick to reveal the truth about the matter. "I... You guys didn't have to... I'm not worth this much..."

The black haired girl lowered her eyes. She wasn't able to look at them. They had... They were going to throw her a surprise party, weren't they? A late one, but she didn't care — she didn't even care if they had been a whole year late right now.

"Nepgear... Is Uni... broken...?"

"No, Rom, she's really happy."

"Then why is she crying...?"

"I-I am not!"

"Ewwwww, she's gonna get her boogers on it! Move the cake, move the cake! I'm not eating Uni boogers!"

Thankfully, no unwanted bodily substance made its way onto the cake. Soon enough, Nepgear and Rom helped Uni calm herself down while Ram, in a surprisingly adult moment of thoughtfulness, offered to set the table — perhaps so she could cool down herself. Once this was all done, the CPU Candidates sat down to have their cake and make merry — the giant stuffed animal that was to be Uni's present joining them in the seat directly at Uni's side after she had been caught trying to unsuccessfully get it to fit on her lap while still maintaining a cake eating position.

As the Candidates sat down and ate their cake, crisis apparently having been averted, Uni knew she had to say something about it all.

"Hey, Ram...?"

After swallowing the mouthful of cake she had just finished stuffing into her mouth (later that evening, Mina was going to have a fit when she discovered a cake fit for five adults was split between the four Candidates), the CPU Candidate in question tilted her head.

"What is it?" Ram glanced around the table. Rom was happily munching on her piece — it was her third, but with the sizes she was taking, the three all together just added up to being about as big as the piece Ram had just finished off — while Nepgear had left a few moments ago to make a phone call or something like that. The brunette realized it was probably something simple, with that in mind — none of the people that were sitting closest to Uni were present or had a hand free! "I know, you want more milk, right? Here-"

"Wha- No! Wait, actually, um, sure, but that wasn't what I wanted to say..." Uni shook her head as she watched the other Candidate reach for her glass and top it off with the milk jug. It was done clumsily and a little spilled out of the side and onto the tablecloth, but Uni didn't mind at all. No, more importantly... Nodding to herself as she took her glass back, Uni did her best to look Ram in the eye so she could say this right. "Um... Thanks. F-For letting me borrow your story for a little while, I mean! That's all!"

Once she got it out there — or... sort of got it out there... halfway got it out there — Uni felt proud of herself, but Ram just seemed taken off guard. Uni supposed it was natural enough, considering how infrequently they prodded the fourth wall in the story, but she knew that probably needed to be said too, even if that hadn't been what she _really_ wanted to say...

"... Oh..."

After a long pause, Ram hesitantly spoke up.

"SorryIcalledyouastupidface."

Uni blinked. It took her a moment to register what had just happened, but when she did, she realized she wasn't even sure what to do about it. She had already long since forgotten about the almost-brawl that had almost-happened between the two of them earlier — her heart swelled at the thought of her three friends and what they had done, and it was filled with warm fuzzy things that had made all of the stuff from before go far, far away. She couldn't get back into that mindset if she tried.

"Y-Yeah, you should be..." It was a half-hearted response — it put quite a few of her sister's half-hearted, tsunderiffic responses to shame, as a matter of fact. She was Noire's sister, after all. "But I forgive you." The CPU Candidate hesitated. This was it. This was her opening. It was now or never and she knew it. "I... That is... I _will_ forgive you... _If_..."

Glancing away, she let out a sigh as Ram looked over at her, confusion already starting to form on her features. Just one more step, Uni, just one more...!

"_If_... You forgive me too. For earlier..." No... That still wasn't it...! Darn it...! It would be easier to propose to Nepgear at a nude beach at the rate she was going doing this! "W-What I mean is, um- Thanks. Thank you. For this."

Uni helplessly waved her arms around, motioning to the whole party that had been put together for her. It wasn't the grandest thing in the world — a few balloons, the cake, the present — but it just meant so much to her that she needed to say it. She'd say it again and again if she were the more confident type too, but as she was not, the one time now would have to suffice.

"Oh... Oh!" This got Ram smiling at her. Uni hesitantly returned it after a moment, especially after she noticed the girl's milk mustache — ironically the same thing Ram was doing to her at the exact same moment. "Yeah, you're welcome! What are friends for and stuff, um, right?"

Uni considered this for a moment. She and Ram... actually had a lot in common, didn't they? It had taken a fair amount for both of them to get to where they were now, and for fairly similar reasons too — but here they were, and they really_ were_...

"Yeah. Friends."

* * *

><p>To whom it may concern,<p>

If there are any Liberty Wars players who may have seen or played with the Lastation Network user IHeartBlackHeart on the following dates and came out of the experience concerned with what this user said over the game's voice chat feature or concerned with the future of the entirety of Lastation itself, Lastation's Basilicom wishes to assure you that they have no relation to any persons of importance in this wonderful nation, and that any resemblance of the player character and their companion robot NPC in the game to Lastation's CPU Candidate and Planeptune's CPU Candidate respectively are purely coincidental. You were not playing online with Lastation's actual CPU Candidate. Please understand.

We at the Basilicom will be offering a modest reward for any original copies of gameplay footage that include this player so that we may investigate their completely-unrelated-to-anyone-important actions, as the person you played with was most definitely not the nation's CPU Candidate, and they were most definitely not making comments or accusations about Lady Black Heart that have any merit to them in any way whatsoever. Any instances where they declared their love for this fine nation's goddess, however, are of course another story, and players are free to feel what they wish if they only were playing with the offending user when they were making comments such as those.

If this message does not concern you, here is a link to Liberty Wars_'_ GameStart page, where you can order a copy and start playing Lastation's new sensation today!

Sincerely,  
>Lastation's Basilicom Staff<p> 


End file.
